Dream Catcher
by morninwarri0r
Summary: Since she was ten, Chihiro has been plagued with nightmares about another world with strange creatures and a fearsome dragon. After suffering for ten years, she has lost all hope of recovery, until a renowned psychologist specialising in hypnotherapy is invited to conduct a talk in her university. He just might be her last shot at removing her nightmares for good. (Hiatus)
1. Chapter 1

**Dream Catcher: Chapter 1**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Spirited Away; all rights go to Hayao Miyazaki and associates.**

 **Summary:** Since she was ten, Chihiro has been plagued with nightmares about mistakenly entering another world filled with strange creatures and a fearsome dragon. After suffering for ten years, she has lost all hope of recovery, until a renowned psychologist specializing in hypnotherapy is invited to conduct a talk in her university. And he just might be her last shot at removing her nightmares for good.

 **A/N:** Hey guys, surprise! I'm back with another Spirited Away story! This was inspired by a picture of a dream catcher (the one I'm using as a cover for this story) and adapted by the idea of "dreams" in my most recently published one-shot for Spirited Away.

Hope you enjoy it (:

* * *

Chihiro trudged out of the entrance of the university with her bag pack slung over her shoulder. Her hands were full with her files and study materials she had brought along with her to revise for her test the next day. It was already nearly eleven at night and her fatigue was quickly catching up with her. Her rented apartment was only a ten-minute walk away, but her legs felt like they were about to buckle and collapse on her anytime now. Maybe it hadn't been such a good idea to turn down Takashi's offer for a ride home, but she knew that he needed ample rest seeing as how he hadn't been sleeping much for the past few days because he had been scrambling to finish revising.

The road was rather quiet, with only faint sounds of engines growling in the distance. The evening breeze blew against her small frame, and the brunette shivered a little, hugging her books closer to her chest in an attempt to keep warmer. She made a mental note to bring her hoodie with her next time instead of her thin cardigan.

Soon, the apartment building came into view, and a long sigh escaped her chapped lips. She climbed up the stairs to the second floor and walked down the dimly lit corridor before quietly unlocking her door and heading in. With a huff, she dropped her bag down on the floor, kicked off her shoes and dumped her books down on the small table in the middle of the room.

Chihiro made a quick job of showering, brushing her teeth and changing into her pajamas. She needed to sleep so she could focus the next day. The woman plopped onto her messy futon, and almost immediately, her heavy eyelids fell. But she couldn't sleep, not yet.

She opened her eyes and turned to look at the bottle of sleeping pills standing on the modest dresser next to her futon. Dread filled her immediately, but she knew she had no choice but to take them, if she wanted to have enough sustained sleep for tonight.

Wearily, she reached over and swallowed two capsules. After drinking some water, she switched off the lights and lay on her bed again. "Sweet dreams to me," she muttered, and in a matter of seconds she drifted off into unconsciousness.

* * *

 _She was trapped in darkness. All her eyes could see was black._

 _Everywhere she turned, black, black and more black._

 _Agonized screams and howls ricocheted off the walls of the confined space she was in and rang painfully in her ears, making her flinch with every sudden sound they made. She heard cackling, like that of witches, and in her head she could already picture two of them leering at her with narrow eyes over their sharp, pointed noses, their blood-stained claw-like nails outstretched towards her as they plotted how best to cook her alive in their bubbling cauldron._

 _The thought sent chills down her spine and she squeezed her eyes shut for a while to inhale deeply and compose herself. She shook her head. Now wasn't the time to be scaring herself. She needed to find a way out as soon as possible. Swallowing thickly, she reached her hands out, hoping to see where the walls were, and to her relief, she found that the walls weren't too far apart, which meant she wouldn't get lost as easily. From the way the sounds were reverberating so loudly off the walls of the contained space she was in, it seemed she was trapped in a tunnel, so all she needed to do was walk all the way to the end and there would be an exit._

 _She just prayed she wouldn't walk into a dead end; she would hate having to stay any moment longer in this nightmare._

 _So she walked, sloshing her way through the muddied floor. Slimy things were clinging to her legs and she tried her best not to imagine what those things could be, and instead focused on searching for any source of light at the end of the tunnel. She presumed she was going in the right direction because the terrifying sounds were getting louder and louder, and for a moment she paused to wonder if she should be going that way, because it seemed as if she might be walking straight towards her end, but then decided she may as well take her chances, since paranoia was already clinging onto her like a shadow and all she wanted was to get out of there._

 _Her head was beginning to pound with a migraine when her eyes fell on a very faint white light up ahead. Immediately, her chest swelled with hope and she began running towards the light, relieved to see it growing bigger and bigger._

 _When she finally took her first step out onto the grassy meadow outside, a wide grin formed on her lips. She was finally free._

 _It was foolish of her to think that this would be over so quickly, however._

 _Just then, the ground began to shake, causing her to stumble. Then she noticed with alarm that the place was beginning to flood. Water was magically seeping out of the ground and covering the entire meadow at an incredible pace. Soon, the water level was already up to her knees, and Chihiro knew she had to search for a safe place she could possibly swim to, but the area was empty; no island, no buildings in sight. The cave was most definitely not an option; she would drown there faster than if she attempted to stay afloat out here._

 _So she began dog paddling aimlessly and watched as she left the ground along with the water level that was quickly soaring up to the height of skyscrapers. Something caught in her throat; if she had acrophobia, it was starting to get to her._

 _Just then, she felt something slimy wrapping around her ankles and a weight tugging on her feet, and the next thing she knew, she was being violently dragged down into the treacherous waters below. She looked down, only to find that there were black, worm-like slimy creatures wrapping their bodies around her ankles and feet, pulling her downward. She attempted to kick them away and swim upwards, but they were too strong despite their tiny bodies._

 _Panic seized her; she was losing air fast. She let out a few more bubbles of air, trying to hold on for as long as possible. Her lungs were burning for air she looked up towards the water surface that just seemed so impossible to reach in time._

 _'Help! Anybody! Please! Help me!' she all but screamed in her mind, praying that someone, or something would come to her rescue._

 _Then she saw it: a sleek, white creature coming towards her in the distance. It looked like it a white cloud streak dancing in the waters, and relief flooded her as she found that it was coming for her. She was saved!_

 _As it drew closer, she squinted her eyes to see what it could be. She noticed that it had two horns sticking out of its head, and sea green fur lined its scaly body. Its eyes were blood red, and it came to a stop in front of her, so that she was facing its snout. Her blood ran cold as terror seized her. She knew this creature. She had seen it too many times before._

 _Her heart was hammering against her ribcage with such force she supposed it was only a matter of time before it jumped out of her completely. She knew she had to find some way to escape, yet she couldn't find any strength to move as she stared helplessly at it, paralyzed by fear._

 _If there was going to be a good plot twist this time, it had better come quickly before she died of a heart attack._

 _The beast's nose twitched slightly, as if sniffing her out to see if she was fresh enough to eat. It inched closer, and she would have screamed if it wouldn't mean losing all the air that she had left, although drowning seemed like a more viable option for her right now. It slowly opened its jaws, giving her a full view of its gleaming, razor sharp teeth. Blood was dripping from them, and there were several remains on its tongue—human remains. She didn't dare to steal anything more than a glance at the dismembered parts lying there._

 _'This is it,' she thought, as it came closer and closer. Its mouth closed in around her and then she felt its teeth pierce through her flesh—_

Chihiro jerked up from her bed so she was sitting upright, before she collapsed onto it again, her body trembling all the while. Cold sweat lined her upper lip and forehead, and she felt sick. She weakly tried to get up, but a wave of dizziness caused her to fall back down onto her bed. She tried to take in deep breaths to help calm down, which helped slightly to clear her disoriented mind. And then with trembling fingers, she clumsily pulled the bottom drawer of her dresser open and fumbled around in it for her bottle of blue Klonopin pills. She pushed the cover open and hurriedly popped two into her mouth before gulping down some water. She took a few more minutes to focus on her breathing, and soon the nausea began to subside and her body became still — relatively, at least.

Chihiro was about to get up and wash her face when her phone rang. She picked it up. "H-Hello?"

"Hey, Chihiro?" It was Takashi. "Just calling to check that you're awake. I'll be coming over in about fifteen minutes, okay? You can take your time. We're still early."

She turned to check her clock. It was seven-thirty. Their test was in an hour, so they had plenty of time. "Okay, thanks Takashi. I'll leave the door unlocked so you can just come in."

"Okay. See you in a bit." He hung up, and she put her phone down on the bed.

Wordlessly, the brunette got up and headed into the bathroom to freshen up. She brushed her teeth and washed her face quickly, trying to clear her head. There was no point in dwelling on a nightmare; she had a test to prepare for.

She changed into a pair of jeans and a plain white shirt before pulling a black hoodie over, and then went to boil some water. She was about to reach for her notes for some last minute revision when she heard a knock on the door. "You awake?" Takashi asked from outside.

"Yeah, I am. Just a minute." Chihiro padded across the room and swiftly unlocked and opened the door. "You're early," she remarked, stepping aside to let him enter.

He closed the door behind him, taking off his shoes and putting them neatly by the side. "Wow, looks like a hurricane did your bed a number," he commented, gesturing towards a dent in the wooden headboard. Chihiro went over to examine it, confused how that had happened. It was only when Takashi pointed out a bruise on her elbow that she realized it hurt.

Groaning inwardly, she decided she would apply ointment later when she got back. "Well, at least I made it out alive," was her rather humorless reply as she went to check on the kettle and fish for Milo packets she had thrown into the cabinet. She would have to buy more soon.

"Was it especially bad tonight?"

"Well, I took sleeping pills."

"Oh."

Chihiro was tearing open one of the packets when she felt Takashi nudge her. "I'll do it."

"Huh? I can do this just fine."

"Your hands are still shaking. You'll end up scalding yourself if you're not careful." He was right. He sent her a pointed look, and then she sighed, complying and throwing away the now empty packet. "Thanks," she said.

"Go do your breathing exercises over there. I'll be quick," Takashi said, before shooing her away from the counter in the direction of the small dining table at the other end of the room.

"Oh, what would I do without you?" she sighed, smiling to herself as she heard a snort come from him.

"Don't get cheeky with me now, Chihiro. I'm seriously worried that you managed to bruise yourself in your sleep. The last time you did that was when you were... fifteen."

"How do you keep track of this stuff? Even I don't remember that clearly," Chihiro remarked.

He shrugged. "I've known you since we were ten. Plus," he added quite smugly, "I have a good memory, unlike you. That's why I ace my tests and you don't."

Chihiro rolled her eyes. "I hope you scald your tongue," she muttered when he came over with two steaming hot cups of Milo.

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

"Of course it was."

"Shut up and drink your stuff. We need to leave," she shot back, though she couldn't help the smile that crept up her face.

Takashi was the closest friend she had for most of her life. She had met Takashi in their second year of elementary school when they became classmates, and ever since then, they had become inseparable, quite literally. By pure coincidence that they attended the same middle school and high school after that, and now, university. They were taking identical courses too; both of them were majoring in psychology, and studying in the faculty of arts and social sciences in their university. Takashi was an aspiring psychologist-cum-sociologist, while Chihiro had made her choice based on her interests; she didn't know what she wanted to be in the future exactly. Perhaps a teacher in a high school would do.

"So, do you want to talk about it?" Takashi asked, raising an eyebrow as he peered at her over the top of his cup as he sipped on his hot drink.

She shook her head. "It was nothing; I've had much worse."

"Did you get a panic attack this morning?" He pointed to the blue Klonopin pills scattered on her bed. She had forgotten to cap the bottle, evidently.

"Yeah, but it was mild."

"No it wasn't. You were still shaking when I got here," he replied with a frown. "Stop being so dismissive about these things. It only makes me more worried."

"It's not as if you wouldn't stop worrying," she retorted, taking a sip of her drink. "Besides, it's been like this for ten years already; I'm already used to it."

Takashi was probably the only person who knew about her nightly problems, aside from her parents, although even her parents didn't know the details. Chihiro never wanted them to worry, so Takashi was the only person she could turn to for comfort and help. He was like an older brother to her despite them being of the same age, and although he could be a little long-winded and worry excessively over minor issues, she knew that it was his way of caring for her and watching over her.

"You say that every time..." he sighed. "I know you're tough, but even tough people could do with some help sometimes. Do you need me to buy you a huge teddy bear or something big enough you can hug to sleep every night so you'll feel less scared?"

Chihiro rolled her eyes, but she couldn't help the grin forming on her face. "You already gave me two. That's more than enough."

"But you left them both at home."

"They were too big to bring here."

"Exactly. We should get you another one to stay here with you. It could be a personal bodyguard."

"Why buy one when I already have you?" she chuckled.

"No way. I'm already your chauffeur, don't expect me to be your teddy bear too. I don't think I can handle any of your kicking in bed."

"I don't kick," she argued.

"Yes, you do."

"It was only one time, during that sleepover. You can't hold it against me forever. That's not fair."

"Chihiro, you weren't the one who ended up with a bleeding nose in the middle of the night."

"I said I was sorry that time."

"You did... while laughing right in front of me."

Chihiro laughed, deciding defending herself would only dig a deeper grave for herself. She gulped down the last of the contents of her cup and then rinsed it in the sink. "Can we go yet?"

He nodded, quickly finishing up his hot drink too. "Yeah, let's go."

They arrived at the university in less than five minutes, with thirty minutes to spare before the test started. There were students everywhere with their faces buried into their books and doing some last minute cramming. The pair both went to the mess hall to grab a few sandwiches for breakfast and then they quickly went to the lecture hall for their test.

* * *

"That was easier than I thought it would be," Takashi commented with a smug grin as they exited the hall.

Chihiro nodded in agreement as she heaved a sigh of relief. "That's one less thing to worry about then. We can enjoy the weekend now."

"Yeah," he grinned, stretching his back contentedly. "Oh right, are you interested in attending that talk?" The man pointed to a poster on a pillar as they walked by it. Chihiro stopped and went to take a closer look. Apparently, the university had invited a renowned clinical psychologist, Dr. Ko, who specialized in hypnotherapy to come down and hold a sharing session with the psychology students. "I saw it before but I forgot to ask you about it. It's this Sunday. Do you want to go? It's not like we have any more upcoming tests anyway. Maybe you could talk to him about your sleeping problems too."

Chihiro thought about it for a moment. Their syllabus had hardly covered anything about hypnotherapy, other than a few brief mentions of it. She had come across it as well, when she was searching for possible treatments for sleep disorders, but had never dared to go for one since she wasn't sure how the treatments were like. The websites all said hypnotherapy was safe, but she wasn't ready to render herself totally defenseless in front of someone she hardly knew and a person who could potentially take advantage of her in some way.

Although, she supposed it wouldn't hurt to find out more. She could always think about it further after learning more from an expert. "I think I'm free this Sunday," she said.

"Awesome," Takashi replied with a grin. "Sunday it is, then."

Chihiro stole a fleeting glance at the poster once more as they began to walk away.

 _Dr. Ko, huh… Hopefully he'll have some answers for me._

* * *

 **A/N:** That's the end of the first chapter. (: I hope you like it so far. I'd really appreciate it if you took a couple of seconds to type in a short review to tell me what you thought about it! Thanks for reading and goodbye!


	2. Chapter 2

Dream Catcher: Chapter 2

"Hey Chihi- Woah. You look like a train wreck. What happened?" Takashi asked as he stared at his friend who was getting in the car.

"Damn, I was hoping no one would notice," she muttered grumpily, slamming the door close and pulling her seatbelt on.

"You didn't take your sleeping pills, right?"

"Nope."

"Was it especially bad last night?"

"You could say that…" She was already closing her eyes and making herself comfortable in her seat so she could go back to sleep.

"Well then, looks like you'll need all the rest you can get or you'll be dozing off during the talk. We still have time anyway."

Chihiro could only hum in response as he started the engine. She had barely any energy in her to utter another word. It had been a petrifying night, and Chihiro had no idea if she should be thankful that she hadn't taken her sleeping pills or not. She hated taking sleeping pills, because that only meant that she wouldn't be able to snap out of her nightmares even when she was desperate to. But without them, she would only slip into a new nightmare every time she went back to sleep after waking up. There really wasn't much of a difference, she guessed, when it came down to nights like that.

But these nights also made her feel especially despondent about her condition—she didn't want to live the rest of her life this way. It had already been ten years; there was no telling if it was anywhere close to ending for good or not.

A small part of her hoped that Dr. Ko would be able to provide some useful information for her, if not, she was left with zero options.

Perhaps she was cursed with something. Maybe it was the devil playing a prank on her, or God cursing her for something she had done. But she had already apologized to Takashi for secretly setting him up for a blind date with Maya, one of their friends, when they were still in high school. It had been a favor from Maya anyway, and Takashi seemed a little lonely sometimes when he saw other couples in school, so she had merely taken that opportunity to push them together, though it had only ended with a big, gravy stain on his favorite dress shirt and smeared eyeliner on Maya's face from her embarrassed tears.

He didn't speak to her for three days because of that incident, until she apologized. Besides, it had happened 3 years ago, surely it didn't warrant such a heavy punishment, right?

Okay, now she was just being downright ridiculous. There was no such thing as magic or curses in this world. They were merely old wives' tales and superstitious legends made up by ancient figures in the past in order to make meaning out of phenomena they didn't understand. There _had_ to be a logical reason for her recurring nightmares. If people couldn't give her the answers to it, then it could simply be an unexplored area of research in psychology.

"Hey Chihiro, we're here." The brunette felt a nudge on her shoulder, and she lazily peeked her eyes open. Takashi was already removing her seatbelt for her. "We have to go now or we'll be late."

Chihiro only nodded and stifled a yawn as she reluctantly got out of the car. Takashi chuckled and held out his arm for her, which she gladly took so she wouldn't stumble and fall—she had a nasty tendency to trip over herself while walking when she was this sleepy. They walked together to the auditorium where students all shuffling in. It was already nearly full, and there were only some free seats at the back of the hall left. Upon noticing the MC walking up to the stage, they hurriedly went to take their seats at the last row.

"Good morning everyone," she said with a radiant smile. "Thank you for being punctual for this talk. Unfortunately, our speaker for the day, Dr. Ko will be fifteen minutes late because of a traffic jam. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience caused and thank you very much for your patience."

There was quite a stir amongst the audience after hearing the announcement. The group of people in front of them was making dismayed exclamations of having to be late for a movie later.

"Why don't you take a power nap now?" Takashi suggested. "I'll wake you up when the speaker arrives."

"Okay…" Automatically, she clung to his arm, rested her head in the crook of his neck and closed her eyes. Chihiro smiled lightly to herself when he shifted in his seat so that she had better access to his shoulder. No matter how much he tried to deny it, he _was_ her personal teddy bear. With nostalgia in her mind, she slowly drifted off to sleep...

* * *

 _She was in a maze. It was a maze with oriental designs on the walls, lined with antique vases that practically blended into the surroundings. There were six openings for her to choose from. She tried to search for any clues as to where she was supposed to be headed. The only hint she had was the faint whiff of opium smoke, but she couldn't identify where the smell was coming from._

 _Just then, she heard a voice. "Well, come in." It sounded like an old woman, but not in a grandmotherly manner. It sounded more like an old witch, luring her into a trap. So she stayed her ground, frowning as she attempted to figure out where the voice had come from. She wasn't about to be tricked so easily, especially not by an old fox._

" _I said, come in." With those words, Chihiro suddenly felt an invisible force on the front of her shirt, and then she was being pulled forward at an alarming speed. Her feet weren't even touching the ground anymore. The hairs on her arms stood on end as the doors slammed close behind her one by one, and for some reason, she instinctively knew that there was no way out, not unless she had permission from the woman who was calling her…_

"Hey, Chihiro. Wake up."

"Hmm..?" Chihiro lifted her head questioningly as Takashi nudged her, thinking that his arm was feeling numb. "Do you need to change places..?" she asked dazedly. All she wanted was to go back to sleep…

He chuckled. "It's only been fifteen minutes; my arm doesn't go numb that quickly. Anyway, he's here, wake up."

The sound of applause startled the brunette and she sprung upright in her seat, watching as the speaker walked up on stage. There was a slideshow presentation already set up, and the first slide read, "'The Mysteries of Hypnotherapy' by Dr. Ko, clinical psychologist."

Her eyes then came to rest on the young man flashing a wide smile at the audience with a microphone in his hand. "Sorry for being late, I was held up by a bad traffic jam downtown. I apologize for keeping you waiting. So, how's everyone doing?"

A few murmurs of "Great" and "Good" in reply followed.

He smiled and nodded. "That's good. It's a Sunday morning, so I want to thank everyone for making time out to come back to the university for the talk. First, let me introduce myself. I'm Dr. Ko, and I'm a clinical psychologist working in Bright Minds Clinic. It's located just around the central part of the city, if you ever feel like coming down for a session with me," he added with a little chuckle. "Today, I'll be sharing more about… …"

Chihiro tuned out as she began to scrutinize his appearance. He looked to be in his mid to late twenties, and he was dressed quite casually, with a pair of jeans and a white button-up shirt to go with it. His dark hair tied back in a ponytail, and if her eyes weren't playing tricks on her, she would have sworn there was a green tint to his hair. _Rather strange for a doctor to dye it green,_ she mused to herself.

His eyes were gleaming as he engaged the audience with a few questions to start off his presentation, and she noted with interest that he was a very charismatic speaker. He seemed to be one who could charm his audience effortlessly. Everyone's eyes were glued on him and she even found a couple of girls squealing amongst themselves, not-so-discreetly pointing at him and trying hard to keep their volumes down.

Well, she supposed that he was a pretty handsome man. Although with his looks, he was probably attached already. Even if he wasn't, she doubted that undergraduates were old enough for his taste, quite unfortunately for them.

"How about the lady up there, at the last row?"

"H-Huh?" Chihiro was jolted out of her idle thoughts when she realized that everyone's eyes were now on her, including Dr. Ko's.

"Would you like to share some of your thoughts on hypnotherapy?" he asked. Despite their distance, his eyes seemed to bore into hers, and she shifted in her seat uncomfortably. "Um…" she tried to rack her brains for an answer, but nothing came to mind. She had a bad impression of hypnotherapy after all, and she didn't know what else to say about it other than that it was _probably_ safe.

"We think hypnotherapy is quite a novel method of treatment for conditions such as sleep and anxiety disorders," Takashi replied with a polite smile. The audience then turned their gazes back to the speaker, who slowly nodded his head with a grin. "Yes, it is. Thank you very much for your input."

"Thanks," Chihiro whispered.

"No problem," he said, patting her on the shoulder. Chihiro noted vaguely that he sounded slightly stiffer than usual. She turned her head to look at him, but his face was stoic and showed nothing.

Chihiro frowned. "Are you feeling okay..?"

"Yeah, I'm great," he said, offering her a miserable attempt at a smile.

She bit her lip to keep from saying anything else. He only used that tone of voice when he was in "Master" mode; it was his defense mechanism to hide his thoughts and emotions. He hardly ever made that sort of expression, but when he did, nothing good ever came out of it.

Chihiro followed his gaze to Dr. Ko below, and she felt wariness creeping up over her. The doctor was animatedly giving a brief overview of hypnotherapy, and he had an amused gleam in his mysterious dark eyes. There wasn't anything wrong with those enchanting eyes of his, but somehow Chihiro could sense that there was something deeper within those pools of black, even with the distance between them.

There was certainly something different about that doctor, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. It wasn't anything as simple as extraordinary charisma or overwhelming charm, at that. Perhaps that was why Takashi was acting a little weird too.

Chihiro wondered if she was simply being paranoid, but her gut was telling her otherwise.

Because she realized that, while keeping her eyes glued to the strange speaker, that his eyes were too, fixated on her, observing and scrutinizing her as well.

* * *

Applause sounded throughout the auditorium after Dr. Ko ended his talk. "If you have any questions, feel free to come up here and we can have a short chat. And with that, I'll end this talk. Thank you very much for your attention," he said with a courteous smile.

People stood up and began shuffling out of the auditorium, with a few staying behind to ask him some questions. Chihiro then turned to look at Takashi, who was still in the same position that he had been at the start of the talk.

Hesitantly, she tapped lightly on his shoulder. "Takashi?"

He flinched at the sudden contact and jerked his head in her direction. "Yes? Oh." He looked around and seemed to notice that the talk had already ended. "Sorry, got kind of lost in my thoughts for a while."

"I can see that…" she murmured. "You okay?"

"I'm fine," he smiled, though it didn't quite reach his eyes. "I um, forgot that I have something on, so I'll take my leave first." Without waiting for her reply, he stood up and made a quick exit from the auditorium, leaving a perplexed Chihiro behind him.

The brunette shook her head. Takashi was probably having a weird day. With a sigh, she gathered her things and made her way out of the hall too. She decided to get a quick lunch at the cafeteria before heading back home.

The queue was rather long, and it was incredibly difficult to find a place to sit. After awkwardly waiting for about ten minutes with her tray of food in hand, a small table tucked in the far end of the cafeteria was finally free and she hurriedly sat down. Just then, her phone vibrated in her pocket and she checked it to see that she had a text message from Takashi.

 _ **Don't leave the school yet. I'll bring you home, okay? I'll meet you at the cafeteria in a while.**_

Chihiro raised her brow as she typed her reply. _**Haven't you gone home?**_

His reply came a few seconds later. _**I was looking up something earlier. Just wait for me, okay? And you don't have to buy me any food, I've already eaten something.**_

 _ **Okay then, stay safe.**_ Chihiro sighed, wondering what could be going through Takashi's head at the moment.

She put her phone away and was about to dig into her food when someone approached her table. "Do you mind if I sit here?"

She looked up, and felt a jolt run through her when she found herself staring into the mysterious dark orbs of strange doctor from earlier. He looked rather different up close; she could see the angular features of his face, his high cheekbones, chapped lips, sharp nose and… his eyes. They were… _green?_

She must have stared at him for too long, because he cleared his throat and asked again, "Is… anyone seated here?"

"N-No…" was all she could manage in reply, before he set his tray down and took a seat opposite her. She scanned the cafeteria, and found that all the other tables were already filled.

As if sensing her thoughts, he said, "Sorry for troubling you, but I couldn't find an empty spot."

She offered him a polite smile. "It's fine, I don't mind at all."

"Were you the lady seated at the back of the auditorium earlier during the talk?" he asked with a toothy grin.

She nodded, a little surprised that he would mention that so directly since he had been looking at her for most of the talk. "Yes… I'm Ogino Chihiro, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Nice to meet you, Miss Ogino," he smiled, holding a hand out to her. She took his hand and was about to shake it when he brought it up to his lips and gently pressed his lips to her knuckles. Chihiro was left dumbfounded a slightly flushed when their eyes met again. He seemed rather amused.

"So," he started, "was the talk alright? I was worried that it would be boring."

"O-Oh, not at all, it was very engaging, I really enjoyed it," she stammered in reply. The more she stared into his eyes, the more lost she felt. It was like she was being cast under a magic spell, rendering her immobile and her brain unable to think properly.

"Is… there something on my face?" he asked. A smirk was playing on his lips.

Chihiro flushed and averted her eyes immediately. "No… it's just that… your eyes. What color are they?"

"What color do you think they are?"

"Dark green," she answered, hoping she didn't sound crazy. "Did you have Caucasian parents? You look pretty much Asian though."

"I'm Asian, but neither of my parents had green eyes. Perhaps it was passed down from my grandparents," he replied with a smile.

"That's interesting."

"Not as interesting as yours, though."

"Mine?" She didn't have particularly striking eyes. They were brown, like everyone else's.

"There's something special about them," he commented, leaning forward, presumably to get a better look. "There's this sparkle in your eyes, but at the same time it seems a little dull, like a little fire inside struggling to survive…"

Chihiro furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "Pardon?"

He let out a short breath of laughter. "Sorry, I get strange thoughts like this from time to time."

She grinned, amused by his eccentricity. "It's alright, everyone has a strange side to them. This is the first time I've heard say something like that about my eyes."

"It was a compliment; your eyes are beautiful."

"Thanks," she offered a coy smile at the man. He really was quite a charmer.

"So, if you don't mind me asking, why did you come for this talk?" the man asked.

She hesitated slightly. Should she tell him? It would be rather odd to confide in him all of a sudden about it, though.

"Do you have insomnia, or something similar to that?" he prodded when she didn't say anything.

Chihiro stared at him incredulously. "H-How did you know?"

"You have rather heavy eye bags, compared to most people," he replied with a casual shrug of his shoulders.

"I guess I do, huh…"

"Is there anything I can help you with?"

Chihiro paused a little, but decided that maybe he could be trusted. He seemed nice enough, and that wariness she felt towards him from before was slowly dissipating. Talking to him now, he seemed like a trustworthy man, someone whom she could rely on to talk about her condition. He might even have a solution to it. And it wasn't as if he was a greenhorn in the field; he was a professional, and from what she had heard from others, he had a ninety-percent success rate with his patients.

"Well… I've been diagnosed with nightmare disorder, which is a sleep disorder in which I get plagued with nightmares every night. I've seen psychiatrists, clinical psychologists and tried many methods to recover, but nothing has been working for the past ten years, so I was wondering if hypnotherapy could actually change something, which was why I decided to come for the talk."

"I see… do you take sleeping pills?"

"Only when I need to. I prefer not to take them."

"Hmm... Well, how about I share more about what hypnotherapy could do for you while we eat? The food is getting cold."

As they ate, Dr. Ko shared more about hypnotherapy as a possible method of treatment for her. "Like I said, hypnotherapy is a focus of the mind. People usually fall into a trance—in other words, hypnotherapy, four to five times per day. Very often, people make the false assumption that during hypnotherapy, the brain slows down in activity, but in fact, the reverse is true. The brain experiences heightened activity during that period, and that's how it can learn rapidly, which is why hypnotherapy can be used as a cure for drug and smoking addictions. It can also be used to cure anxiety or sleep disorders by helping the patient to relax."

Chihiro nodded, but was still slightly wary of the idea of being put in a state of vulnerability. It wasn't as if she doubted his professionalism as a doctor; it was just rather unsettling.

"I understand the wariness and caution many feel towards this form of treatment, but you need to know that hypnotherapy can't make you do anything you're not comfortable with," Dr. Ko continued, as if he could read her mind. "It's like yoga, or a spa for the brain, if you must. It's does no psychological harm to patients in any way. And for hypnotherapy to work, the patient must keep an open mind to change, or the brain cannot learn anything new."

"Well… I guess I'll consider trying it out," Chihiro said with a light cough.

"It's alright, there's no need to force yourself," he chuckled. "But in the event that you do want a consultation session with me, feel free to call me." The man took out his wallet and handed her a name card.

"Thanks," she smiled, "I'll keep it in mind."

"Well, it looks like your friend is here. I'll take my leave first then. Have a nice day, Miss Ogino." He stood up and took his tray with him, and Chihiro turned around to see that Takashi was approaching their table. She saw Dr. Ko give him a curt nod as he passed by him, which Takashi returned with a rather cold stare. The woman frowned at the wordless exchange.

Something was definitely up with Takashi. She could sense it too, when he came up to her and gave her a rather stiff greeting.

"What's up with you?" she asked while gathering her things and taking her tray to dispose of the trash.

"Nothing," Takashi replied blankly, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

Chihiro rolled her eyes. "Sure there isn't. You've been so out of it since the talk. Is something wrong?"

"Nothing, but, what were you doing with Dr. Ko?"

"Dr. Ko? He couldn't find an empty seat so we shared a table."

"What were you discussing with him?"

"He just shared more about hypnotherapy as a treatment for my sleeping disorder. I only said I'd consider, though."

"Ah…"

Chihiro folded her arms across her chest. "So, Sir Takashi, what's with the sudden interrogation?"

"I was just asking casually."

"Oh really? But your "Master Takashi" face is saying otherwise.

"Quit calling me that," he frowned.

"Why not? You're making that face right now."

"I'm just… having a bad day," he replied vaguely.

"You seemed fine this morning, though. Are you feeling unwell?" she asked worriedly.

"Nah, I'm good. Come on, I'll bring you home."

Chihiro decided against asking him more questions and kept quiet. He probably just needed some time to himself to clear his thoughts and think.

As they walked out towards the car park, her mind began wandering back to Dr. Ko's offer. She pulled the name card out of her back pocket, noting his picture on it with interest. He looked just as charming with short hair, she mused to herself.

As she scanned through the contents, her eyes came to a stop at his full name: _Dr. Ko Haku._

 _Kohaku… What a strange name._

But even stranger was that she found it oddly familiar.

And she wasn't mistaken; she could tell it was familiar, because her heart skipped a beat each time she read his name out loud in her mind.

 _Kohaku…_

 _What a strange name indeed._

* * *

A/N: Sorry for the late update; I had a very busy last week of school, and I was fussing over the research details about hypnotherapy and stuff for this chapter haha. But now that the June holidays have started, I'll have slightly more time to update, so hurray! (: Thanks for reading and I'd appreciate it if you left a review to tell me what you thought about this chapter! (:

See you soon~


	3. Chapter 3

Dream Catcher: Chapter 3

 _(Updated on 16/06/15)_

* * *

Chihiro stifled a yawn as she waited to cross the road. It was a hot summer's day, and she had made the fatal mistake of wearing jeans instead of shorts out. She fanned herself with her palm, but it did little to cool herself down. Beads of perspiration were rolling down her cheeks and neck. The crowd around her didn't help in the least; she could feel the body heat radiating from the people around her.

At least the clinic wasn't too far away; the air-conditioned environment awaiting her was her only motivation at this point. The green man appeared and she began shuffling together with the crowd across the road.

"Excuse me," someone said as he pushed past her with a little too much force, causing her to stumble. Chihiro attempted to regain her balance as she flailed her arms about ungracefully, but since she was gifted with extreme un-coordination, soon she found herself falling with a loud yelp.

Before she could hit the ground though, she felt an arm around her waist, pulling her upright. "You okay, miss?"

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine…" she spluttered in embarrassment. She looked up, about to thank the man who had saved her when something caught in her throat.

"Oh? What a coincidence, Miss Ogino," Dr. Ko said, flashing her a wide grin.

Chihiro noted vaguely that his arm had yet to leave her waist. "Hi- U-Um, good afternoon, Dr. Ko."

"Let's get off the road first, shall we?" he smiled before taking her arm and pulling her along with him as he jogged to the other end just before the green man disappeared.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, as they continued walking along the street.

"I was actually thinking of looking for you in your office…" she replied a little awkwardly.

"You should have called so I would know."

"Right… I forgot about that…" she laughed lightly, scratching her head. "Are you busy at the moment?"

He chuckled. "No, I'm quite free now. I was just heading back to the clinic, so if you'd like, we could have a talk in my office."

Chihiro smiled. "That would be great."

They approached a small building with a white signboard. "Bright Minds Clinic," it read, in big, blue font. Dr. Ko pulled the door open for the woman and she entered the quiet place. The entrance was rather spacious, with cushioned armchairs for waiting clients, and a water cooler by the side. There was classical music playing over the speakers too. The clerks at the front counter were busy on the phones, appearing to be sorting out appointment schedules with their clients or helping some patients collect their medications.

As they walked in, Chihiro noticed a couple seated together in a corner, both wearing somber expressions on their pruned faces and clasping each other's hands tightly. She wondered idly what could have happened to them, but then her attention was directed away from them when Dr. Ko spoke again. "Here, this way."

She followed him past the front desk down the corridor. At the end, they made a left turn and walked further in, towards the door at the end. As they drew closer, Chihiro felt goose bumps rising on her forearms, and a tingly sensation in her nose.

The atmosphere felt strange, somehow, almost as if it were… otherworldly.

The man opened the door with a soft click, and motioned for her to enter first. She nodded, stepping in, curious to see how a hypnotherapist's office would look like. She had expected a long, comfy armchair for patients to lie in, yoga music to play, perhaps even a relaxing scent of lilies to permeate the room and maybe a few scenic paintings here and there.

The first thing that hit her was the scent of rain, then the sound of waves. Pretty normal, she supposed.

But then the first thing that entered her line of vision caused her to freeze abruptly in her tracks. Her mouth hung agape as she stared at it blankly.

"Is… something wrong?" Dr. Ko asked from behind her.

"N-No…" she whispered, but she couldn't bring her legs to move forward.

Chihiro knew she was overreacting— her _body_ was overreacting, but she couldn't help it, because she hadn't been expecting a large painting of a dragon to be hanging right above his desk.

It wasn't a picture of a ferocious dragon eating up humans, of course. But, it was undoubtedly, a picture she had seen too many times in her dreams. She remembered it all too clearly: the sleek, pearlescent body of the dragon, its shimmering scales, the sea green fur lining its back, the golden tint to its horns and its mysterious dark green eyes. In the painting, there it was standing half-submerged in a blue river. It was surrounded by trees and in the distance, there was a meadow filled with wild flowers. Gentle rays of sun shone on the river, making it sparkle like diamonds.

The dragon appeared tame; she could tell from its gentle green eyes, and she could almost imagine the soft breeze blowing against it, ruffling its fur and causing ripples to form in the quiet river.

Yet, something about it sent her gut churning. She had seen it too many times, that dragon in her dreams. At once her guard was up; she knew better than to trust a cunning creature like that. It ensnared its prey in a gentle caress with its gaze, and then the next step that the prey took towards it would be a fatal one.

"You seem to like that painting," Dr. Ko commented as he closed the door behind them, bringing her out of her thoughts.

"Y-Yeah… I guess, it's pretty nice," she replied. She looked around, noting that there were more figurines of dragons on his desk and on several bookshelves. Some of them were poised for battle, with their mouths hanging open, revealing rows of gleaming white teeth and bending low, getting ready to attack.

"You seem to like dragons very much," the brunette stated, feeling rather unnerved all of a sudden.

Dr. Ko took a seat behind his desk. "I suppose so. I like that painting very much; it was a gift from a friend. He always thought I resembled a dragon."

Chihiro looked at him and then turned her gaze to the dragon in the painting, scrutinizing both. "You have the same eyes," she commented after a while.

"What do you think about those eyes?" he inquired, leaning forward and resting his elbows on the table.

Chihiro blinked twice, slightly taken aback by the question. "Well…" she paused to think for a moment. "On the surface they look gentle, yet at the same time there's a hint of danger in them that's sleeping deep inside… At least, that's what I think. I'm not sure if that was the artist's intention."

"A brilliant description, I must say," the man said with a wide grin. "I've never heard anyone describe those eyes more beautifully than you have."

Chihiro gave him a small smile in response. "Thanks. What did you think about them?"

"Mine was rather different from your interpretation. I saw love and gentleness in his eyes, perhaps in longing for a lover that he cannot meet nor hold close to him."

Chihiro raised her eyebrows and felt her lips stretch into an amused smile. "Him?"

"Yes, 'him'. I do believe that there's a human in that dragon, a human just like you and I."

Chihiro hummed quietly in response, unconvinced. If there was a human in that dragon, then she would find it difficult to believe that he had a good heart.

Wordlessly, she turned her gaze to the rest of the room, and that was when she realized that the room had a wall with a special oriental design to it. A bookshelf rested against it, with scribbles on their spines that she couldn't comprehend.

Something clicked in her head as she recalled where she had seen that oriental design before. She remembered the maze, the old woman's voice, and the mystery and danger underlying that dream.

"You seem to recall something. Have you seen that design somewhere before?"

"No," she lied, masking it with a smile. "It just looks rather interesting."

"Indeed."

"What are those books? They don't look Japanese."

"Just some books passed down from my grandfather. I like to flip through them from time to time, even though I don't understand a single thing. It's almost as if there's magic embedded in those pages."

"Sounds pretty interesting."

"You could take a look at them later, if you want. For now, how about we go back to the matter at hand?" Dr. Ko motioned for her to take a seat while he returned to his seat behind his desk. "You wanted to talk to me about something, yes? Is it about your nightmares?"

"Yes, I was actually wondering if I could um, have a "test trial" of sorts? I'm still not sure if hypnotherapy will work, but I want to give it a try. I'm pretty much out of options, as you can probably tell."

"I see…" The man offered her a kind smile. "It'd be my pleasure to help you out. Why not you tell me more about your nightmares first? Do they share many similarities, or do you have repeats of certain nightmares?"

"The things that happen and characters that appear in my nightmares are mostly similar, though I've never had two nightmares that were exactly the same."

"Hmm… What do you usually see in your nightmares?"

"A dragon. A white one, to be more precise. It looks almost exactly like the one in your painting," she replied, pointing to it. "That's why I was kind of stunned for a moment when I first saw it."

"That's a rather strange coincidence," he remarked in wonder. "How long have you had these nightmares for?"

"About ten years. I've had them since I was ten years old."

"Did you have any traumatic experience around that age? Anything that involved dragons at all?"

Chihiro frowned as she thought about it. "My life is rather plain; no surprises, no mysteries, no strange occurrences, nothing… Well, I suppose if you want to count the time I nearly drowned in a river, but I was five then, so it'd be strange for the nightmares to come five years late. And no, I've never had any encounters with dragons, not even wax figures of them."

"Well, there are only two possible conclusions to this," Dr. Ko said, "One, you've been putting yourself under a lot of stress for years, maybe because of studies or some relationship matters."

"I hardly fuss over studies or anything in general. The only times I get stressed is when I see a cockroach or any creepy crawlies around," she replied.

"Then, that only leaves me with the other conclusion: you have memories locked away somewhere in your mind and your subconscious has been actively seeking out those memories in the form of those nightmares that you experience."

Chihiro stared at him incredulously. "That's crazy. I mean, I don't think that's quite possible. I don't have amnesia or anything of the sort."

"It doesn't necessarily mean that you have amnesia; sometimes the brain does this as a defense mechanism in response to extreme trauma. You may have subconsciously done something like that, and I suspect much of that trauma comes from some sort of experience with a dragon."

The brunette was left at a loss for words. "Dragons… they don't exist."

Dr. Ko only smirked as he responded, "Perhaps… Or it could be that you just can't see them anymore."

* * *

Chihiro was lying on her bed, her mind drifting towards the doctor and his mysterious healing powers. She had just taken a nap, and just like the previous two days, she hadn't gotten a single nightmare. Granted, she still dreamed about strange things and that dragon, but there was nothing scary about her dreams anymore. They only left her curious; sometimes when she woke up, she got the feeling that those dreams were meant to convey some sort of message, and even though she still couldn't comprehend those dreams, with the horror element gone, things were starting to get a little clearer, like the odd feeling of nostalgia she felt when she recalled those scenes and the tightness she felt in her chest, like that of _longing._

Her mind was in a mess, but there was one thing she was certain of: that doctor was pretty magical.

Just then, the doorbell rang. Chihiro got off her bed to open the door for Takashi; he had called her a few hours before to check in on her and to offer to get dinner for the both of them.

"I brought curry rice," Takashi said with a grin as he entered the apartment.

"My favorite," the brunette declared enthusiastically with a similar smile.

"So, how did it go with Dr. Ko the other day?" he asked as they sat and ate together.

"We had a little discussion about my nightmares, I guess. He mentioned something about me possibly being too stressed or having some memories of a past traumatic experience locked away in my mind. Then he taught me some relaxation techniques and for the past two nights I actually managed to get some good sleep. No nightmares, and no waking up in the middle of the night! Can you believe that?"

If Takashi was impressed, he didn't show it. "Memories of a past traumatic experience locked away in your mind?" he repeated with a frown.

"I don't think that's it, either. I've never really had any traumatic experiences before, other than the time I nearly drowned in the river, I guess. What was that river's name again? Ko… haku?" Chihiro paused as her heart jolted in her chest.

 _Kohaku._

… _The name of the river… but…_ There was more to it. She could feel it, but… she just couldn't put her finger on it.

"This world is full of scary coincidences, huh?" Takashi commented stiffly.

"Yeah…" she murmured in reply. _Just like that dragon…_ "Hey Takashi? Do you think dragons exist?"

He suddenly choked on his food, and started to cough loudly while hitting his fist against his chest. Alarmed, the woman stood up and rushed off to pour a cup of water for him. "Are you okay?" she asked worriedly, handing the cup to him, which he gratefully accepted. He chugged down the contents and paused to catch his breath before replying, "I'm fine."

"Be careful," she chided with a frown, handing him a napkin. "So, what do you think? About dragons existing?"

"Um…" He looked like he was deliberating hard about how to answer, which puzzled Chihiro. It was a 'yes' or 'no' question, why did he need to think about it for s long? It wasn't as if he was secretly a fantasy lover; he had never uttered a word to her about mythical creatures and the like.

"I'm not sure that they do exist, but if I find one, I'll show you."

Chihiro laughed. "And how would you bring it to me? It's not like a dragon would live anywhere near civilization!"

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," he answered dryly. "Sometimes the most dangerous things can be right next to us."

"Do you think all dragons are dangerous?" she asked curiously.

A mysterious smile played on his lips. "Not all, I suppose. As long as you choose the right one to be friends with, you'll be okay. Anyway, the food is getting cold, we should quickly finish it."

A while later, both of them were sprawled out on the futon, bloated from their dinner. "We shouldn't be lying down after eating," Takashi said with a yawn.

"I don't feel like getting up though."

"It's always about how we 'feel' and not what we 'should' do, huh."

"You're such an old man, Takashi. You can turn anything you see or hear into a morality lesson."

"Now there's another career option," he said with a chuckle. "So, what are your plans for the future?"

"I don't know," Chihiro admitted. "Maybe I should just quit university and look for a rich husband so I can live the rest of my life in luxury and comfort as a housewife. I would have more time to look after my kids too."

"Like finding a good man who's rich is so easy," he said with a roll of the eyes.

"With my qualifications, I wouldn't even have to look for him," she replied playfully, poking him in the arm.

"Yeah, all you have to do is go to the other end of the world where they'd be hiding from you."

"Mean," she muttered, hitting his shoulder.

"So, I guess for now you'll just be dreaming about your future?"

"I suppose so. That's what little girls do," she sighed.

"It's not so bad, being a little girl. We all have a little child within us," Takashi said in reply.

"Everyone but you, I guess," she said with a small roll of the eyes. "Speaking of which, Dr. Ko doesn't look like it, but I think he's secretly a child at heart too. I think he like dragons a lot."

He raised his eyebrow. "Dr. Ko likes dragons?"

"He has dragon figurines and paintings of them all over his office, and there's a bookshelf with some strange books too. I wouldn't be surprised if that was written in a dragon's language," she added.

"Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised either…" he murmured humorlessly. "Listen," he said in a very stern tone all of a sudden, nudging her so she would look at him in the eye. "If you suspect anything wrong when you're around Dr. Ko, call me and let me know, okay?"

Chihiro furrowed her eyebrows. "He's a very kind person, you know."

"I know. It's just a word of caution. You don't know who he is exactly and if he has any hidden motives in getting closer to you. And I know I may simply be paranoid, but just promise me you'll keep that in mind?"

The woman sighed, knowing that Takashi wouldn't leave her alone about this unless she agreed. "I promise."

"Good," he said with a smile, ruffling her hair gently. "Well, it's getting late so I'll be heading back home. Goodnight, Chihiro."

"Goodnight," she echoed as she showed him out the door and waved him goodbye.

After closing the door, she leaned against it, staring blankly into space. Her mind went back to the painting of that dragon in Dr. Ko's office.

"The Kohaku River, huh?" she thought aloud to herself.

Perhaps, it was time to return to that place again. She might be able to discover something new there.

But wait- Hadn't it already been removed? She remembered reading in the news a couple of years back that the land had been reclaimed for apartments to be built over it.

Chihiro let out a frustrated groan and plopped face-first into her futon.

Things really never went her way sometimes.

* * *

A/N: Monday update woohoo! Hope you guys are doing well! For me, I'm stuck at home revising for my exams that will be coming right after the holidays end haha... Although, I think today has been my most productive day so far so I'm really happy. (: Thanks for your sweet reviews, guys. They really made my day. Stay amazing and hope you liked this chapter!


	4. Chapter 4

Dream Catcher: Chapter 4

Chihiro was mindlessly doodling away in her notebook during a lecture when she felt someone nudge her. She snapped up immediately and found Takashi staring at her quizzically.

"What are you doing?" he whispered.

Chihiro only replied absent-mindedly, "Just doodling…" before returning her attention to her notebook, where she had drawn a vague picture of a little shoe floating in the middle of a river. Ever since her consultation with Dr. Ko, Chihiro had been trying to think of things related to her childhood that may have triggered her nightmares. The only traumatic event that she could think of, however, was the time she had nearly drowned in the Kohaku River. A few nights ago she had contacted her parents to ask for more details on the scarring incident, but there hadn't been anything much to go on.

The only thing that puzzled her about that river was that she couldn't have just randomly fallen into a river and gotten carried away by some currents because that river couldn't have been able to kick up a current big enough to sweep her away from the shore, given its average size.

No doubt, there were exceptions to natural phenomena from time to time, but her gut told her that there was more to it, that there was something behind her accident and that something had saved her, something probably unheard of. Her parents had dubbed it a miracle that she had survived, because after getting washed away from the shore, they had only found her at the opposite end of the river, which was quite the distance. She had been unable to swim, at that, which made it all the more questionable as to how she managed to get all the way to the other side unharmed.

Maybe there really was more to that incident than she had thought. And maybe that could be the connection to her nightmares. If only she could figure out exactly what it was…

Just then, Chihiro felt another nudge from Takashi. She looked up and found that everyone was packing up and leaving the lecture hall. Hastily, she gathered her things and followed Takashi out the door towards the cafeteria for lunch. "Are you still thinking about the Kohaku River incident?" he asked, gesturing to the notebook in her hand.

"Yeah," she said, nodding her head. "I have a feeling there's something more to it. I mean, if you think about it, there was no way for me to survive that on my own. Something must have happened, or maybe someone was behind it, helping me out."

The brunette expected Takashi to look intrigued at the conclusions that she had come to after painstakingly thinking everything through, but he only looked bored, looking straight ahead with a distant look in his eyes. "It's probably just your imagination, Chihiro. Maybe the current managed to sweep you to the other side, which was very fortunate for you."

"But rivers shouldn't be able to kick up such big currents such that I'd get swept away from shore so easily," she responded in protest.

"Strange things happen all the time. There're always exceptions to every natural phenomenon," he replied simply.

"Well yes, but… I just have a feeling that it's more than that. You know, a gut feeling? And my gut is never wrong."

He didn't seem amused. Usually he would laugh it off and scoff at her with a roll of his eyes, but this time he was pretty stoic. "I think it'd be better if you stop spending so much time pondering over what happened before. It's all in the past, and it'd be better for you to invest that time into studying. I bet you didn't pay attention at all during today's lecture."

Chihiro twisted her lips wryly. "I just want to find out more about what could have happened. What if there was something behind it? Maybe I could actually discover the reason for my nightmares!"

"And what are you expecting that 'something' to be? A dragon?" Takashi scoffed. "Chihiro, have you considered the fact that maybe you shouldn't find out the reason for your nightmares?"

Chihiro frowned at that. "Why not?"

"Because," he said in an almost exasperated tone, " _if_ your nightmares are actually based on some kind of traumatic event that happened to you in the past, maybe the reason for your mental block would be that your brain doesn't want to remember. It could be a form of psychological defense, haven't you learned that before? Besides, you can't be so sure that it's something from your memories just because some doctor said so."

"He's not just 'some doctor', he's a reliable person," she retorted, folding her arms across her chest. "I don't get it, you're being really uptight over this. Usually you'd be interested and be making wilder guesses than me."

"Maybe it's because I don't think this is worth making wild guesses for. It's just a waste of time. Focus on your work instead, Chihiro. Let the past go and just look forward."

"Well, I for one, am look forward to a complete recovery from my nightmares-"

"Which you may well be able to do without looking back into your past," he cut in.

"What's so wrong about me wanting to remember something?" she demanded, not bothering to hide the annoyance in her tone.

Takashi looked equally frustrated. "You don't even know if there even _is_ a 'something'. Why can't you just stop looking for answers? You know the saying 'Ignorance is bliss'? Maybe you could meditate on it a little."

"Look, if you're not interested in helping then you don't have to, okay? I have a right to decide what I want to do and I think I know what's best for myself."

Takashi looked like he was about to say something more, but then he abruptly shut his mouth, cutting off whatever was on the tip of his tongue and began walking quicker, ahead of her. "Suit yourself," she heard him say as he left.

* * *

"So, were you able to remember anything?" Dr. Ko asked as he poured some tea into a cup for Chihiro.

She shook her head dejectedly with a sigh. "I've tried so many ways and thought about it for a whole week, but nothing. I asked my Mom to show me some of the photos we took there, and I went on Google to check out how the river used to look like, but nothing comes to mind at all. Maybe Takashi is right; I don't have a case of partial amnesia because there's just nothing for me to remember."

"Perhaps that's because you don't know what you don't know," he replied, handing her the cup of tea. "Do you have a gap in your memory at a certain age? Or during a certain event?"

The brunette furrowed her eyebrows as she sipped on her tea, deep in thought. "I don't think so."

"That's fine. Perhaps it's just a bold assumption on my part too. We'll just have to see how things go before I can make a clearer diagnosis. So, shall we get started?"

She nodded. "Yes." She made her way to the familiar armchair and lay down, making herself comfortable as Dr. Ko took his seat next to her.

"Okay, now close your eyes, and begin to do some breathing to relax yourself. Do it in your own time, nice and slowly."

Chihiro did as told, focusing on her breathing. Deep breath in, deep breath out. There was some soothing music playing in the background, which helped to ease her into a state of meditation better.

"Just think about your breathing, and clear your mind."

Chihiro rather liked it when she could listen to his voice like that. Dr. Ko had a nice, deep voice that resonated beautifully in her ears. His voice was like crystal glass, soft, pure and comforting. It drew her in and she especially liked it when he began to whisper in a more raspy tone.

"Chihiro, focus," he reminded her with a hint of a smile in his voice.

The brunette drew the corners of her lips back down swiftly. It was easy to tell when her thoughts trailed elsewhere because she had a bad tendency of smiling when she started daydreaming.

She continued this for a while longer before Dr. Ko spoke again. "Now, I'd like you to picture yourself in a bathhouse. It's a nice, warming place, and you can feel the steam against your face as you enter the tub."

"Mm…" Dr. Ko had done some of these before. He'd get her to imagine herself in different places just to get her to relax and also to stimulate her mind to see if it could bring up any memories that may be sitting somewhere in the corner of her mind waiting to be discovered again.

"It's a very big tub, almost big enough to be a mini swimming pool, and it's being filled up with warm, steaming water. You can hear the water as it trickles into the tub..."

Chihiro tried to picture herself in a big tub, with water flowing in. Dr. Ko probably expected her to think of herself wrapped in a small towel and dipping her dainty feet into a big tub filled with warm water, and simply lying there, enjoying the warm waters working out the kinks in her muscles.

However, her mind seemed to be working differently. For some reason, she saw a younger version of herself, probably when she was ten-years-old—that was the first time she had decided to have bangs and the lady at the salon had made a complete mess of it so it looked like a jagged mess—in a salmon pink uniform scrubbing a gigantic bath. The bathtub was abnormally huge, and it wasn't a public bath either. It was grimy, algae or grass—whatever it was—had grown all over it, and it smelled like a sewage drain, an absolutely repulsive sight.

Someone—a lady—was yelling at her to get bath tokens to wash away all the grime. She was about to run out the door to get some as per her orders, when she came face to face with some big, black ghost-like creature with a mask for a face. It looked pretty harmless, with a shy smile and all. It was also holding out a mountain of bath tokens for her, but for some reason she didn't feel it was right to take it. "No, I don't need so many," was what she said.

She had expected the creature to perhaps go off like the mild thing it was, but to her horror, it dropped the tokens to the floor with a thunderous clangs and then its expression changed from a civil one to that of an enraged monster. It opened its mouth—correction, its stomach wide, and reached out a translucent black hand, grabbing her waist and lifting her up. Its mouth reeked, and she could hear shouts of help echoing from within as it brought her closer and closer towards its teeth just waiting to devour her.

She couldn't escape from its vice-like grip. She couldn't even move; she had been rendered paralyzed by some invisible force and she could only watch helplessly as she grew closer and closer to that monster's stomach, or mouth, whatever it was.

Just then, a memory surfaced of a similar encounter she had before: _Blood was dripping from them, and there were several remains on its tongue—human remains._

That alone was enough for her to let out a shrill, desperate scream for help.

"Miss Ogino! Chihiro! wake up!"

Her eyelids flew open and Chihiro found Dr. Ko's face hovering over hers, the skin on his forehead crinkling in worry. Without thinking, she threw her arms around his neck, clinging tightly to him as she felt a mini earthquake tear through her body. The man held her gently, rubbing his hands up and down her back in an attempt to calm her down. "Everything's alright, Chihiro. There's nothing to be afraid of. That was just a nightmare."

"Th-There was a… a monster-"

"Shh… Don't talk. Now, I want you to focus on my voice and do exactly as I say. Take a deep breath, 1, 2, 3, 4… Now exhale, 2, 3, 4… Inhale, 1, 2, 3 4… He repeated it a few more times until she managed to calm down considerably.

"Th-Thanks…" she muttered, pulling awkwardly away from him. "Sorry about that… I didn't know what I was thinking."

"That's alright," he said with a small smile, "You were frightened. Let's call it a day, shall we? How about I give you a ride home so you can rest?"

"That's alright, Takashi said he would be picking me up today so we can have lunch and study afterwards." Takashi had offered to buy her some lunch to make up for his "inexcusable and foolish" attitude a day after their little squabble. She had actually gotten over it rather quickly; she could never find it in her to stay mad at Takashi for long, even if he did get a little bit irrational at times, but since he had offered to treat her, there was no way she would say no.

"I don't think you're in a condition to study right now," Dr. Ko said with a worried frown. "You need to rest."

"I will." She moved to take her things, and Dr. Ko offered to walk her out to the entrance of the clinic. He was probably afraid that she'd collapse while making her way there.

"Will your friend be coming soon?" he asked.

Chihiro nodded. "I told him I'd be done at about one-thirty, so he's probably here."

They walked out and true enough, they found Takashi there waiting, tapping his feet on the ground as his eyes darted around for her. The moment he spotted her, his eyes widened and he briskly made his way towards her. "You look pale," he stated, gently cradling her cheek, as if to get a better look.

Chihiro pushed his hand away. "I'm fine, really."

He obviously wasn't convinced in any way. "No, you're not. I'm bringing you home." Without another word, he forcefully grabbed her wrist and began dragging her out.

"Takashi," she protested, trying to wrench her wrist out of his vice-like grip, "it hurts." He didn't seem to hear her however, and just as he pulled the door open, Dr. Ko placed a hand firmly on his shoulder. "Let go. You're hurting her," he said coldly.

"Don't touch me," Takashi spat in reply, but he did loosen his grip on her considerably and even rubbed his fingers over her wrist in a silent apology.

But Chihiro wasn't appeased in the least. Takashi was being irrational and incredibly rude, like a spoilt brat. He was hardly ever this way, especially not to strangers. Sure, he had mentioned that he didn't trust Dr. Ko, but that wasn't a valid reason for him to throw a big tantrum in public like a child!

"I'm sorry, Dr. Ko…" the brunette began, but before she could say anymore, she felt a yank on her arm and then she was out of the clinic and trying to follow behind Takashi who was walking a little too fast for her liking. She stole a fleeting glance over her shoulder at the doctor who was watching them with pursed lips. Well, it wasn't a surprise that he would feel annoyed with Takashi's sudden outburst. She just hoped that wouldn't give him a bad impression of her.

They arrived at Takashi's car and the man practically pushed her in and slammed her door shut before getting in himself.

"Takashi, care to tell me what's going on?" Chihiro asked in disbelief as he slammed his door shut too and clenched his jaw. "You've been acting really weird lately. It's like you're someone else."

"I should be asking that about you. What's going on? You shouldn't look like that after a hypnotherapy session if Dr. Ko's that good, right?"

Chihiro frowned at the sarcasm dripping in his voice. "He was trying to get me to remember something, probably something from my childhood-"

"I already told you, it's all in the past. You're better off investing your time into your studies or something else more important."

"Are you saying my memories aren't important?" she rebutted in annoyance. "Just because it doesn't mean much to you, it doesn't mean that it isn't important to me that I find out exactly what happened to cause my nightmares!"

"I'm not saying that they're not important, Chihiro, but-"

"That's exactly what you're saying, Takashi. You know what? I'm really disappointed. I thought you'd be there for me and support me as my friend, but I guess I was wrong." Chihiro fumbled around to unbuckle her seatbelt and was about to open the door to leave when Takashi grabbed her arm.

"Chihiro, wait." She could hear the pleading in his voice but wasn't in the mood to bother about him.

"Let go."

"No, I won't."

"I'm warning you, Takashi."

"Just, hear me out, okay? I'm sorry. I shouldn't have acted that way towards you. So will you listen to me?"

With a resigned and exasperated sigh, she leaned back in her seat and folded her arms across her chest, staring defiantly out of the window.

"Look, it's not that I don't think your memories are important. They are, and it's great that there's a chance that you can retrieve them, but I don't think it's a good idea to force it. Maybe it was fate that made you lose your memories of a certain incident."

"You're not the kind who'd believe in that sort of superstitious stuff," she deadpanned.

" _Or,_ it could be some psychological defense mechanism to protect yourself from reliving that trauma again. Who knows what would happen if you get your memories back?"

"That's true, but… I just want to know, okay? There's a chance my nightmares could go away if I find out."

"And there could be a chance that they would get worse," he retorted. "I'm just afraid that something bad will happen to you, alright?"

Chihiro softened at that reasoning. She knew Takashi had always had her best interests at heart. He was always looking out for her, getting angry for her, lending her shoulder when she was upset and he was practically at her beck and call, ready to spring into action the second she screamed for help. She couldn't find it in her to stay angry at him for long, even if he had been acting quite irrationally in front of Dr. Ko. But, she supposed that any person would have people who liked them and disliked them, so maybe both of them just naturally repelled each other for some biological reason.

"Are you going to stay mad at me?" Takashi prodded.

"…I guess not."

She caught the corner of his lips turn up slightly. "Okay, so do you want me to treat you to dinner to make up for getting you mad?"

She shook her head and closed her eyes, leaning her head against the headrest. "No need, I'm pretty tired. Could you just drive me home?" The nightmare from before was still giving her the creeps.

"You're going to tell me exactly what happened just now when we get back, okay?"

"Mm…" Chihiro hummed in response, too drained to start another argument with him by saying 'no'.

The drive back to her apartment was a quiet one. Chihiro would steal sideways glances at Takashi every now and then, and although they had made up, he was still wearing that poker "Master Takashi" face, and he seemed to be deep in thought about something. She wondered if it could still be about Dr. Ko. He always seemed uneasy whenever she was with Dr. Ko, and he always became unusually aggressive if he thought the doctor was standing too close to her.

"Want me to make you something to eat?" Takashi asked as they entered the apartment.

"No, I'm not hungry."

"I'll make you some noodles." It was more of an instruction than a question, really. Chihiro could only nod and obey like a meek child, and so while waiting, she turned on the television. There was nothing much on, so she settled on the news channel just to have some sound to fill up the room.

Soon, the smell of food wafted towards her nostrils and in a matter of minutes Takashi was out of the kitchen holding two plates of noodles. He handed one to her and she was glad that he had given her a relatively small portion. "You really should buy more groceries," the man commented as he took a seat next to her. "I could barely find anything else to cook."

"Don't you know how much I hate grocery shopping? Part of the reason why I moved out was because I didn't want to go through any more grocery shopping with Mom," she replied with a snort.

"I thought girls like doing that sort of thing."

"That's so sexist."

He laughed. "I guess. So, do you want to tell me what happened?"

Chihiro shook her head. "Not really."

"Was it that bad?"

"Horrible. It didn't have a dragon in it but it was still terrifying."

"I could tell. You were so pale when I saw you."

"There was this monster. It was like a ghost and it had a mask for a face. It seemed really nice at first, but the moment I told it 'no' when it offered me some bath tokens it just snapped and tried to eat me." She shuddered at the memory of its livid face, and its bottomless pit of a stomach for a mouth. She didn't dare imagine what else she would have seen if Dr. Ko hadn't woken her up and snapped her out of her trance in time.

Takashi's face visibly hardened. "You were in a bathhouse?"

"Yeah, I was supposed to imagine myself in one and then I was wearing this pink uniform and scrubbing some huge tub. It was really weird… Wait, how did you know I was in a bathhouse?"

"Well, you mentioned bath tokens…"

"Oh, right…"

"Your hands," was all he said before he took the plate out of her trembling hands and enveloped them in his warm ones. He rubbed his thumbs on the back of her hands in circular motions. She liked it when he did that; it was soothing. "Maybe you should call it an early night."

She forced a laugh. "It's only ten. It's too early to go to sleep!"

"If you're scared of being left alone I can stay here with you."

Chihiro stared into his eyes and swallowed thickly as she felt her heart begin to beat faster. His shining orbs were true and honest, like that of a guardian warrior. She knew what he really meant: _I want to stay here with you; I need to know that you're okay._

"Please…" she heard herself say. It was quite funny that she didn't want to tell him no either. She felt the same need for him to be with her, and the strange thing was that she couldn't understand _why._ Takashi had always been her best friend, perhaps even an older brother, but then at the same time he was also her guardian angel and protector. She loved him, as he loved her, and she couldn't bear the thought of ever being separated from him one day. It was like they had been caught in Fate's web, their threads of life woven together and never meant to be torn apart.

They shared her futon that night. It had been rather cramped, since Takashi was quite big, but Chihiro didn't mind one bit. It gave her an excuse to snuggle close to him and feel safe at night, something she hardly ever felt.

"Go to sleep now," he said, stroking her hair gently. Her scalp tickled whenever his fingers brushed her head, and she loved how he ran his fingers through her hair. It was as if she was a precious doll to be taken care of.

She could feel her eyelids getting heavier, but just before she was about to fall sleep, she heard Takashi whispering to himself in a barely audible voice. Out of curiosity, she strained to hear what he was saying.

"…You can't look back, Chihiro. It's been too long."

There was no time for her to ponder over those strange words, because then she promptly drifted off into the darkness.

* * *

A/N: Sorry for the delay in updating, I was overseas for a while and I was having a little trouble planning out this chapter. At least it's out now! Do pardon any mistakes; it's 1.20am and I'm barely able to keep my eyes open for any silly grammatical errors eheh.

But that aside, I want to thank you guys so much for the reviews and for the sweet words. I really appreciate your support! After this update I'll be taking a little break because I have my exams to focus on now, so I'll be back after they're over! (:

Love y'all and hopefully I'll see you soon! (:


	5. Chapter 5

Dream Catcher: Chapter 5

Takashi was, to say the least, not himself lately. The man Chihiro knew to be her best friend was changing, and she didn't know why. The only thing she knew was that Takashi was starting to act like an overprotective figure, watching her every move with eyes of a hawk. Whenever she wanted to go out, especially to go for consultation sessions with Dr. Ko, there would be a flash of warning and worry in his eyes before being replaced by blank pools of brown, the color of dead leaves in the fall. He would get unnaturally worked up whenever she talked about the past, about the Kohaku River, and about the origin about her nightmares. His jaw would clench, and his shoulders would tense up, as if he was under interrogation even though her questions had nothing to do with him at all.

If there was one thing she was certain of, it was that Takashi was hiding something from her. She didn't dare to speculate too far, but she had a suspicion that he might know something about her past that she herself didn't remember. Of course, it could simply be paranoia or her imagination—which had been getting much wilder lately too—but it seemed like he knew much more than he let on.

Chihiro wanted to know exactly what he was hiding from her, and if it had to do with her dreams (yes, dreams, not nightmares anymore, although sometimes she would wake up with goose bumps all over from a couple of creepy images). Recently, her thoughts tended to drift to a world of fantasy and otherworld creatures and although she knew those were merely figments of her imagination, they seemed to come alive in her head and many of the people- no, _spirits_ who appeared in her mind seemed familiar somehow.

She remembered a lady whom she had met in her dreams before. She looked quite plain, with long chestnut brown hair and a loud voice. Her forehead had one or two creases, probably from frowning too much. In her dream, the woman had been dressed in a salmon pink uniform, the one that she recalled to have worn when she was scrubbing a giant tub for some strange reason. And the woman had been yelling at other workers from the bathhouse to get to work, complaining about the heat and her male colleagues and a long list of other things that Chihiro couldn't remember. Despite her boisterous liveliness though, she looked like she was simply all bark and no bite. Chihiro instinctively knew that she was someone who could be trusted, and she wondered if she had met someone like her a long time ago.

Then there was an old spider man. Chihiro remembered the way he looked quite vividly. At first glance he appeared quite terrifying, yelling commands at his employees in a grumpy tone almost all the time, and his freakishly long arms that were always occupied with doing something. But despite his rather scary appearance and his big voice that was comparable to that of the woman she had met before, she knew that his heart was much bigger. He held a great deal of wisdom and knowledge, and was a man of strength and honor. Strangely, whenever she thought of him, the word "grandfather" would come to mind. Maybe it was out of a longing to have one, since both her grandfathers passed away before she was born.

Just then, her phone rang, snapping her out of her thoughts. She took a glance at the caller ID and a mild annoyance began to gnaw at her. But, she answered it nonetheless. "Yes, Takashi?"

"Where are you?"

"I'm studying in the university."

"Where? The library? It sounds a little noisy back there though."

"I was, but I just came out to take a short break at the cafeteria."

"Oh, okay then, I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

"You do that every hour. I'm really fine."

"Still, I'm worried…"

"Takashi, you sound as if someone's just waiting to attack me. I'm perfectly fine and I don't need this sort of protection."

"I know…" he replied with a small sigh. "I'm sorry. Anyway, stay safe. I'll catch you later."

"You too. Bye."

She hung up and promptly felt a small pang of guilt hit her for lying to her best friend. She was nowhere near the university compound; in fact, she was on her way to the clinic to look for Dr. Ko, the very thing Takashi repeatedly warned her to not do, at least not without his accompaniment.

Really, since when did he become a watchdog? If he was good at reading people before, now he was just barking up the wrong tree all the time.

Chihiro's frustration faded away when she arrived at the familiar building. Pushing the doors open, she entered the quiet clinic and approached the staff at the reception counter. She hadn't called beforehand to check if Dr. Takashi was around, but she really needed to talk to him about those two people and see if there was any conclusions he could come up with.

"Miss? What can I do for you?" the receptionist asked politely with a courteous smile.

"Hi, I'd like to know if Dr. Ko is available at the moment."

The receptionist furrowed her eyebrows in puzzlement. "Dr… Ko?"

"Yes, Dr. Ko Haku," Chihiro said, arching her eyebrows questioningly. Shouldn't she know about him?

"I'm sorry, but there is no such doctor working in this clinic. Perhaps you have gotten the name of the clinic he is working in wrong?" she suggested.

Now it was Chihiro's turn to be confused. "Sorry, what do you mean by that? I've been coming here on a weekly basis to see him. Of course he works here."

The woman only frowned, looking quite bewildered. "I'm sorry, Miss, but there really is no such doctor working around here, and I don't recall ever seeing you before…"

Chihiro had three possibilities running through her mind: One, she was dreaming. Two, the receptionist was suffering from dementia. Three, it was true that the man in question didn't work here and had been lying to her, but what for? And that didn't explain how the receptionist could not remember her; Chihiro remembered making eye contact with her a couple of times before. There was no way she couldn't know!

"His office," the brunette began anxiously. "I've been in his office. It's proof that he exists, right?"

Now the receptionist was staring at her like she was a mad woman. She was probably considering suggesting that she go to a hospital to have a check-up too. But nonetheless, she remained professional and cleared her throat. "Well then, um, would you mind showing me the way to this doctor's office?"

Chihiro complied and led her down the familiar hall, reaching the end. She grasped the doorknob, feeling the cool metal in her hand. It was real.

"Miss, that's our—"

Chihiro pulled the door open, and was expecting to see the office there clear as day, as she remembered, but she was only met with the musty smell of old cardboard boxes and abandoned books. She stood rooted in her spot, dumbstruck.

"—storage room for miscellaneous items… I'm afraid this is all a misunderstanding. How about looking for him in another clinic?"

Chihiro couldn't believe it. She had been in that office before. That dragon painting, the smell of rain, the soft leather of the chair she sat in with him beside her and his soothing voice, those were _real,_ even if the circumstances were suggesting otherwise. Her memories wouldn't lie.

Wordlessly, Chihiro briskly walked away, leaving the perplexed receptionist behind and left the clinic. Pandemonium and chaos was erupting in her head all at once. Clumsily, she fished for her phone in her bag and dialed his number.

" _The number that you are calling is not registered on the network. Please re-dial, or for assistance, you may call—"_

After six more tries and receiving the same answer, Chihiro gave up. She stopped against a wall by the street, feeling nauseous all of a sudden. Something was very, very wrong. If Dr. Ko didn't exist, had he simply been a figment of her imagination all along? But she wasn't crazy, and on top of that, Takashi knew he existed too.

That's right, Takashi would be able to help.

Quickly, she dialed his number. Within two rings, he picked up. "Chihiro? Anything wrong?"

 _Everything's wrong._ "Where are you?"

"I'm on some errands. You sound frightened. What happened?"

"I-It's about Dr. Ko. He… disappeared, w-without a trace, and nothing makes sense at all."

"…Are you still outside the clinic? I'll come over and then you're going to tell me everything?"

"Please…" She was barely bothered by the fact that Takashi was probably pretty mad that she had lied to him. The only thing she was struggling to understand was if she really was sane after all.

"Don't worry, it'll be alright. Just, give me ten minutes, okay? I'll be there as soon as possible. Don't wander off and I'll see you soon."

She nodded as he hung up and then her hand limply fell to her side.

* * *

"I see…" Takashi said after a while, leaning forward in his seat to prop his elbows on the table. They had gotten a seat at a nearby coffee shop so that Chihiro could take some time to calm down and think more rationally. The woman had just reiterated her whole story in a jumbled mess, and so her friend was currently in deep thought, trying to assess the situation.

"I know what I saw and what I remember. He's not just a figment of my imagination, but… it's like he just vanished off the face of this earth. I called up Misaki and Riko to ask if they remember his lecture on hypnotherapy too, but both of them can't remember him either. Thing is, it doesn't make sense that only the two of us can remember him!"

"He didn't say anything as a farewell to you at all?"

Chihiro shook her head. "The last time I saw him he was expecting me to meet him for another consultation."

He heaved a long sigh and briefly tilted his head down, obviously trying to hide his frustration at her stubbornness in visiting Dr. Ko. "Okay, I can't really think of a scientific reason for this, but maybe if you sleep it off he'll come again?"

That only earned him a flat stare. "Sleeping isn't going to change anything, you of all people should know that."

"I know, but there's really nothing much we can do about this situation other than wait it out and see what happens next. Who knows? Maybe he'll reappear as quickly as he vanished."

The woman rolled her eyes. "Like this is just a magic trick of sorts."

"Well, magic only works because we can't see it." A mysterious smile she had seen before played on his lips."

She raised an eyebrow at that. "Care to enlighten me on the hidden meaning behind those words?"

"You'll figure it out soon enough, I think," he said almost forlornly. "Anyway, notify me when you get a message for him, if he does."

"Okay. So… you're not mad at me for lying to you?" she asked sheepishly.

He shot her a pointed look. "A little less than I should be, considering I was really worried about you when you called. But, I guess I should apologize for being so imposing on you. I've been acting like a control freak but I just can't help it; I'm just somehow concerned about your well-being, maybe a little too much, even."

"Define 'too much'," she said with a small roll of the eyes. "But you were never so uptight over this before. It's as if you think I'm in potential danger right now… which makes me wonder if you know something that I should know about."

There was that look again. His "Master Takashi" stance appeared in an instant. "No, I don't."

"Yeah, you say that with a weird face. We've been friends for a long time, and you know when I'm lying, so likewise I know when _you're_ lying. Please, just tell me. Even if it's something really important that you should have told me long ago, I promise I won't get mad at you. Not for long, at least," she added.

"Ignorance is bliss, Chihiro. Remember that."

"Yeah, well… if it concerns me I have the right to know, don't I?"

"Perhaps. But now is not the time." His tone was final.

"Then when _is_ the right time?" she asked in exasperation.

"We'll know when it comes... if it does."

* * *

Chihiro threw on a shirt and a pair of shorts before rushing out of her apartment and flagging a cab to go to the clinic. Her heart was beating frantically in both relief and happiness after reading a text that she got from Dr. Ko who'd been missing for a week just five minutes ago. He had just sent her text to ask if she was doing well, and the brunette had wasted no time at all in scrambling off her bed and out of her apartment to get to the clinic to see if he really was back for real.

There were too many questions crossing her mind as she sat restlessly in the back of the taxi, drumming her fingers impatiently on the leather seats. She sent a brief text to Takashi to inform him and then stuffed her phone back into her pocket. The cab arrived fifteen minutes later, and after paying for the cab fare, she got out and looked at the entrance apprehensively. If the receptionist from a week ago still remembered her, then it would be hard to convince her to let her go all the way inside to look for Dr. Ko's office.

Chihiro reached into her bag and pulled out a pair of shades and a cap, hoping that would be enough to stay unidentified. Quietly, she pushed the doors open and walked straight ahead towards the hallways where the various offices were. Her ears perked up for anyone who might be calling for her.

Thankfully, her disguise worked, and aside from a couple of glances from other patients in the clinic, no one asked for her to stop or for any details about the doctor she was meeting or who she was, given her stealthy actions. She noted the door at the end of the hall and took a deep breath before walking straight down, feeling her heartbeat rapidly picking up pace and droplets of sweat lining her upper lip. She was nervous to see him again, partially because she was afraid something might have happened to him, but it might also have to do with a strange atmosphere that she could sense coming from that office.

The door was ajar, and as she neared it, the sound of unintelligible murmuring grew slightly louder. She stood there for a while, trying to make out if it was in Japanese or English, maybe even Korean or Chinese, but it was none of those. Out of curiosity, she made her way closer so she could steal a peek, careful not to make a sound as she did so.

It was hard to see, but she could make out Dr. Ko standing in the dimly-illuminated room, and it seemed he was the one murmuring all those strange words, like an incantation. Chihiro tried hard to hold back a gasp when she saw a book levitating in mid-air, and she inferred that there must have been a number of them from the sounds of the many pages flipping rapidly all at the same time.

A part of her was already screaming for her to run, to get away from that room and from whatever bizarre truth that was awaiting her should she be found out. Yet a bigger part of her, the curious part, was intrigued and her eyes were drawn to the strange sight; she had to find out more.

Cautiously, she pushed the door open a little more, and then she noticed that there was a black glow surrounding the feet of the doctor as he continued in his trance.

It was almost… magical, yet the word 'curse' was all that filled Chihiro's head.

The fear that the word brought drove Chihiro to move backwards hastily as the woman decided to heed the alarm bells going off in her head and to hightail out of there.

Her escape would probably have been successful, if she didn't trip over herself and let out a loud yelp as she did so.

Immediately, the muttering in the room stopped and Chihiro's heart skipped a beat. She had been discovered. With her heart pounding in her chest now, she quickly got up and took to her heels but before she could move, she felt a strong hand around her arm. It gave her a rough tug, spinning her around so now she was staring at the doctor's face. He looked amused somehow, yet there was something else in his orbs that she couldn't recognize.

"Miss Ogino, you should have told me that you had arrived."

It took her a while to move her tongue and respond. "I-I just got here. I, uh, actually just remembered that I have to meet Takashi for lunch—" She was cut off however, when the man forcefully dragged her into the room. Everything looked normal again. There were no floating books or black glows or anything. The room was bright again, as if nothing had happened just seconds ago.

He pressed her shoulders to make her sit down and her eyes darted around uncomfortably when he took a seat opposite her. "I suppose… you have some questions for me?" he asked with an arched eyebrow.

"N-No, no, I don't have any questions. Really, I should go, or Takashi will get worried…" In her mind, Chihiro was already running through a few ways in which she could send Takashi a text message without alerting the doctor first.

"You saw the books and heard the incantations, didn't you?"

She swallowed thickly, refusing to meet him in the eye. "W-What books? I didn't hear anything at all. Really."

"You really shouldn't lie, Chihiro. It doesn't suit you," he said with a disapproving click of the tongue.

"I-I'm not… lying…" Her voice caught in her throat when Dr. Ko stood up and placed his palms right beside her thighs, cornering her in her seat. He looked like he was ready to pounce, like a predator, and she was the prey, waiting for its end.

"Let me take you somewhere," he stated, his eyes boring into hers. He took her wrist before she had time to react. Chihiro didn't know what was happening. One moment she was in his office, and the next, they were both engulfed in a bright light. When she opened her eyes again, they were both standing in the middle of a deserted road.

Chihiro gasped, pulling away from the doctor putting some space between them. She scanned her surroundings, and found that they were both standing right in front of a once-vibrant brick red wall. The paint was peeling off and it was covered in moss. There was a weird statue standing in front of a pitch-black tunnel and dead leaves littered the floor. Chihiro remembered this place. It was where her family had ended up after getting lost while moving to their new house.

"Why did you take me here? How did you take me here?" she demanded in a shaky voice, flinching when she heard the snapping of twigs and the crunching of dead leaves under the man's feet.

He walked ahead of her, into the tunnel. Just as he took one step in, he turned around and gazed at her expectantly. "Come with me," he said, with an outstretched hand.

Memories of getting stuck in a pitch-black tunnel in her nightmares surfaced in her mind. There was danger at the end of it, and she wasn't about to make that mistake in real life where there wouldn't be any second chances waiting at the end if she ended up getting stuck in the darkness for real.

She shook her head; her tongue was unable to form coherent words.

"Nothing bad is going to happen to you. I guarantee it. Just come with me."

Still, the woman refused. She was not going there, especially not with a doctor whose identity was dubious to say the least at the moment.

"You leave me no choice, then." Suddenly, there was an invisible force around her legs and back, and then to her horror, the woman found herself walking towards the entrance of the tunnel against her will. She noticed the smirk on the man's lips and she cried, "Stop it! I don't want to go! Let go of me! Stop doing this!"

"It's alright, Chihiro. I'm here, there's nothing to be afraid of," he said, the smirk morphing into a smile that failed to comfort her in any way. Try as she might, she couldn't regain control of her body.

What the hell was going on?

Eventually, she reached Dr. Ko, who took her hand and squeezed it lightly.

Still, her legs continued to walk straight into the tunnel, into the unknown. The sound of their footsteps echoed off the walls of the tunnel, and she could hear some strange noises, like bugs scuttling to and fro, disturbed by the intrusion of two new visitors. Chihiro blinked back any moisture that was gathering in her eyes; she refused to let her stupid fear of the dark or bugs or her nightmares get the best of her right now. She couldn't afford to be a weakling, not right now.

The darkness seemed to stretch forever, but at the end, they came to a deserted train station. The air smelled musty, and there seemed to be no hint of another person around. Light from the outside shone through the windows, making it stuffier in the old train station.

Straight ahead was an exit to an open meadow and a beautiful, boundless azure sky. The wind came as a relief to Chihiro when she felt it play with the strands of her hair and blew against the drops of perspiration and damp hair matted to the sides of her face. Chihiro knew this place. She had seen it in her dreams before, yet there was a nagging feeling in her gut that she had personally been here before, and not just in a fictional world of fantasy.

Then, Dr. Ko stepped away from her and Chihiro realized that she had control over her limbs again. "Do you remember now?" he asked her.

She frowned, looking around. Was she supposed to remember something important here? She hadn't even been here before, at least not that she could remember. "Remember what?"

"Anything. Everything. The bathhouse, the witch, your friends… me."

She stared at him incredulously, hoping that he would burst out in laughter and say "Gotcha!" like they did on those hidden camera comedy shows, but she knew from the grim look in his face that he was dead serious. However, try as she might, she couldn't recall anything of the sort. She had never actually visited a bathhouse before; her parents had never really been enthusiastic about the idea of bathing together with other people in public.

She shook her head. "There's nothing to remember. I've never been here, except in my dreams, which is quite strange, I suppose…"

"Your memories are all in the form of your nightmares and dreams that you experience," the man replied. "You stumbled into this world together with your parents and chanced upon the bathhouse just nearby. Then you were forced to work in the bathhouse for the witch of that bathhouse, Yubaba, so that you could stop her from turning your parents into pigs. And it was then that… we met."

"My… dreams..?" Images began to flood her mind, pictures of a black, ghost-like and insatiable creature, a kind lady, an old spider man, a meadow that would flood out of nowhere, a maze with an oriental design, a tunnel as dark as night and a fearsome, cruel dragon.

Those dreams, they were _memories?_

Her head was beginning to hurt. The sharp pain caused her to wince, putting a halt to any sort of remembrance she was in the middle of. Then Chihiro flinched in surprise when she felt both his hands squeezing her shoulders. "Don't you remember? We met there. I saved you, and we made so many friends there! Please, try to remember."

"I'm sorry, I can't," she responded, trying to pull away from his grasp. "There's really nothing I can do about it other than give it some time."

"Remember the dragon you saw in that painting in my office? Remember the Kohaku River? That's me. I'm the dragon. I'm the guardian of the Kohaku River, the river where you dropped your pink shoe. I saved you, and that was the first time we met."

"You… saved me..?" Chihiro echoed, furrowing her eyebrows as she tried hard to remember. That time when she nearly drowned, she knew something must have helped her, but…

Then it hit her. It wasn't by mere luck that the currents suddenly changed so she could float back safely to shore; it had been something else, a creature that had been living in the waters and happened to find her nearly drowning in its home.

It had been that dragon. It'd been him all along.

"You… remember now?" he asked hopefully, staring at her.

"You're… that… dragon…" she repeated, almost in disbelief.

"Yes, I am," he grinned. "The Kohaku River."

"The Kohaku River…" So that was why his name had jumped out at her when she saw his name card.

"What else do you remember?"

Chihiro was about to reply when out of the blue, a scene played in her mind:

 _There were two children, a girl and a boy, standing at the edge of a meadow, holding each others' hands tightly in anticipation of the farewell that awaited them. A light wind blew in their faces that bore conflicting expressions of happiness and of sadness, of hope and of loneliness._

" _Will we meet each other again sometime?" the girl asked, searching the wiser boy's face for a positive answer._

 _He gave her a reassuring smile and a little squeeze. "Sure we will." His answer was curt and short, almost like he was scared to say any more for fear of getting overly emotional._

" _Promise?" She needed something to hold on to for a while, at least until they saw each other again._

" _Promise," he responded. "Now go, and don't look back."_

"We made a promise," she murmured.

"A promise?" he asked gently.

"Yes, a promise. Do you remember what it was?"

"It's been a long time, but I vaguely remember it. I told you that you had to stay safe and well until we met again." Then she found herself being crushed in a hug. "I'm glad. I've been waiting all this time, and finally, we're together again."

Awkwardly, she put her arms around his back too. "I still don't remember much, so I'll need some time to recall everything, I think."

"Of course, take as long as you need, I'll wait for you until you remember everything, and until you're ready to truly return this hug," he replied with a warm smile, pulling away from her.

"Why didn't you tell me when we first met at the university?"

"I was afraid you'd think I was crazy and then avoid me. I had to give you some time to adjust to your memories that were already floating to the surface in the form of those nightmares."

"Was my traumatic experience the one at the bathhouse? Is that why I can't remember anything?"

"Perhaps, but it didn't seem like it was an especially painful memory for you. I suspect it must be something that happens when humans who leave this world and go back to their life. It seemed that the moment you stepped out of this place, your memories were forced into the recesses of your mind. They've been trying to get out, which might have caused those horrid nightmares of yours."

"I see…"

"I want you to come with me," the man said then, tugging at her wrist for her to follow him across the meadow.

"W-Where are we going?" she asked, fear springing back into action and immobilizing her again.

"To the bathhouse. So that you can see our friends again."

Well, it made sense to visit her old friends again so that she could get back more of her memories, but something was holding Chihiro back from following him further.

The alarm bells from before had gone off again, and fear gripped her frenzied heart. She didn't want to venture any further. Something just didn't feel right. Her eyes darted back and forth, from the meadow ahead and to the tunnel from before. Maybe if she took him by surprise and made a run for it, she'd be able to make it out and away from him, before he could cast that weird spell on her again.

She didn't have the time to consider much, however, because the next thing she knew, a loud voice cut through the serene field.

"Chihiro!"

Her eyes snapped up and she found Takashi racing towards them, with something that she had never seen before in his eyes: raw, undisguised fury.

He was next to her in a flash, and he wrenched Dr. Ko's hand off of her before stepping in between them as a body shield. "What do you think you're doing, bringing her here?" he snarled fiercely.

"Takashi," she pleaded, clutching onto his dark blue shirt. The last thing she wanted was a fight.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to do anything foolish," he said in a softer tone.

"I'm surprised you managed to find us, Takashi," Dr. Ko said coldly, setting his jaw as well.

Chihiro swore she heard a menacing growl rip through Takashi's throat. "I'm her friend, and it's my job to protect her from the likes of you. I'm warning you, don't you dare bring her here again."

"And if I insist on bringing her to the bathhouse?" the man challenged.

"Then we will have to settle this here and now," he replied immediately. "Chihiro, I want you to get out of here. Run as fast as you can, and don't look back."

"But-" She watched as a dark purple light begin to engulf Dr. Ko's right fist.

"Go! Don't look back!" he shouted, pushing her in the direction of the tunnel.

The woman did as she told, frightened by the threat of violence in his voice. Takashi never used that voice around her, except only when he needed to protect her. The last time she'd heard him this mad was when she had been surrounded by a couple of drunk juveniles in a dark alley late at night while walking home. If Takashi hadn't been there to fight them off, goodness knows what would have happened to her.

Now, he was fighting for her again.

The hairs on the back of her neck stood as she heard a bloodcurdling war cry, and followed by sounds of blows being exchanged. She didn't know if it was just her imagination either, but the wind seemed to get much wilder in an instant.

A loud shout startled her, and worry began to fill her mind. What if something happened to Takashi? Or Dr. Ko? They shouldn't be fighting; Dr. Ko didn't have any bad intentions at heart, and Takashi tended to get a little out of hand when he was this angry.

Unable to keep herself from looking to see what was happening, she looked back, and there she found the two men standing a distance apart, both glaring hotly at each other. Dr. Ko seemed to be on the losing end, with a cut lip and messed up hair. He was clutching onto his right arm too. He was injured and breathing heavily.

Takashi on the other hand, was scarily still, and then he brought his palm up and curled his index and thumb together. He blew on it lightly, and a couple of white petals, no, _scales_ \- the word came to her when she heard them clattering as they collided in mid-air - appeared. They started floating towards the doctor who was sprinting towards Takashi again to attack, but Chihiro had no time to see what their effects were because Takashi was already running towards her and wildly gesturing towards her to run too.

Chihiro took to her heels and bolted away as fast as she could, not caring that she was hardly athletic and had little stamina in her to sprint for long. Thankfully, Takashi was next to her in no time. He grabbed her hand, and the moment he did so, it was as if they had gotten a turbo boost, the kind you'd see in a Mario Kart game. They were practically gliding through the air at an insane speed, and Chihiro was far too amazed to realize that this wasn't physically possible and defied all laws of Physics.

When they finally got out of the dark tunnel, they raced to Takashi's car that had been haphazardly parked just outside the entrance and then Takashi had started the car and was speeding off, still panting and all.

"What… was that?" Chihiro heaved out, fumbling to put her seat belt on as the road became insanely bumpy.

"Why didn't you return my calls? Do you know how worried I was about you? What if I came too late? Do you have any idea what he could have done to you?!" he shouted furiously, still breathing heavily, but from the run or the anger boiling inside him, Chihiro couldn't tell.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

His eyes became harder. "Tell you what?"

"There's no point hiding anymore. Dr. Ko told me everything, about my nightmares and dreams being memories and the bathhouse."

Takashi kept mum for a while, taking some time to compose himself first before asking in return, "How much do you remember?"

"…Only the dragon that saved me from drowning in the Kohaku river, and a promise that we made together. Okay, technically, I made a promise with a boy, not a dragon, but I have a feeling they're one and the same, though I'm still not sure that a dragon can fit into that tiny body of that boy, and…" Chihiro trailed off when she found that Takashi had simmered down drastically and the corners of his lips were now twitching into a smile.

"What's so funny?" she asked.

It was like the huge scene earlier had never happened, and Takashi was back to being his happy self again. "Nothing, it's just… I can't believe you remember. Not that it's a good thing, but I don't know about that for sure..."

She raised her eyebrow at that. "So you really know something, huh? Tell me now."

"Before that, I want to ask you a question: do you think Dr. Ko is that dragon?"

She paused. "I'm not sure… Everything he says points to that, but… he got the promise wrong."

"The promise?"

"The promise that the boy and I made to see each other again. And he kept telling me to not look… back…"

Chihiro's eyes widened almost comically as the impact of the truth came like a hard slap to the face. She stared like a deer in headlights at the man seated next to her, who was grinning with a gentle look in his eyes, one that promised her protection and love.

She had seen that grin before, in another boy, a boy she had met a long time ago, in a dream.

"You're… not Takashi." It wasn't a question, for once in her crazy day filled with nothing but unanswered questions and confusion.

He laughed at that. "Well then, if I'm not Takashi, then who am I?"

" _Will we meet again sometime?"_

" _Sure we will."_

" _Promise?"_

" _Promise. Now go, and don't look back."_

"It's you… Haku."

Her heart skipped a beat as his lips stretched into the widest smile she had ever seen yet.

"It's been a while, Chihiro."

* * *

A/N: BOOM. Bet none of you were expecting that. If you did, kudos to you for picking up the clues along the way… or for not choosing to trust me. Moral of the story? Never trust someone like me.

I'm having my last paper tomorrow (literature, yay!) but since I got the entire weekend to spare I decided I had to start on this one. I was really going where my hands and mind took me, so I'm really hoping that I didn't screw up the pace just like that omg.

Hope you enjoyed this so far and I just wanted to say thanks for reading and for your support. You guys are the best!

Till the next chapter!


	6. Chapter 6

Dream Catcher: Chapter 6

The blanket of silence in the room was so thick it was almost suffocating. Chihiro absently stared at her cup of coffee, keeping her head lowered so the man seated opposite her wouldn't be able to see her inner conflict spelled all over her face. She could feel his gaze on her, which only intensified her anxiousness.

This was ridiculous. Takashi was her best friend; she had known him for close to a decade. Haku or not, he was still her closest friend and nothing had changed. Except, well, the real back-story of their relationship, and the "spirit" aspect of his identity. She had yet to decide how exactly she should react to the truth. Sure, she really wanted to recover her memories from the past and to know why it was so crucial that he keep it from her for all these years, but at the same time, she was afraid that if she found out something she didn't want to, it may irrevocably change their relationship, and Takashi was a friend she did not want to lose.

"You do know that I'm still the same guy, right?" he asked, breaking the silence between them. Snapping her head up, she found him staring at her with a raised eyebrow. "Haku or not, I'm still the same person, and I'm not going to change anytime soon."

"I know," she murmured. She looked at him closely, observing his features. Big, brown eyes, soft brown hair, high, angled cheekbones, a sharp nose and a lean, muscled figure. He looked just a normal young adult and nothing like a spirit. She wished she could remember how that young boy at the meadow looked like; it would be nice to make some comparisons to verify all of this just so she wouldn't get the wrong guy again. The only thing she vaguely recalled was green hair.

"If you're wondering about the green hair and green eyes, I concealed them with a brown color so I would blend in with everyone else," he said with a smirk.

She narrowed her eyes at him and promptly lowered her head once more. "Stop reading my face."

"You were staring at mine too; it was only fair."

"But I'm not reading your thoughts. That's not fair."

"Your thoughts are written all over your face; it's hard not to," he retorted.

At that, she let out a chuckle, prompting the man to smile too. "There you go, you look prettier when you smile."

Chihiro ignored the heat gathering in her cheeks at the compliment—she wasn't used to them, unlike Takashi—and asked him, "So, are you going to explain everything to me now?"

He must have detected the hesitation in her voice, because he proceeded to lean forward and interlock his fingers."Look, you don't have to listen to my explanation if you don't want to; it's fine if you just want to carry on just being normal, human friends and pretend that this was all a dream," he continued.

"Nothing will change the fact that this is all real," she said, looking at him levelly now. "I refuse to live in a dream for the rest of my life like a coward. It's just that I'm rather… apprehensive about what might change in _me_ if I find out something that I don't want to."

"I share the same sentiments," he agreed grimly. "I worry that you will become afraid of me, and that our friendship will end for good as a result."

"I'll try my best," she offered. "But I don't think you're anything like that big, scary dragon in my nightmares, so I probably won't get _too_ affected, as long as you don't flash me those fangs of yours anytime soon."

The corners of his lips twitched upwards at that, but his reply was stern. "If I ever flash those fangs in front of you, it'll only be to protect you, never to hurt you."

Chihiro nodded and smiled. "That's really sweet, Taka- I mean, Haku. Okay, this name thing is really confusing. I'm not sure what I should be calling you anymore... Um, which do you prefer to be called by?

"I'm fine with anything to be honest. It's just a name to me," he replied with a shrug.

"Hakushi? Taku?" she tried. "Hey, Taku actually doesn't sound too bad."

He made a face. "Just choose one."

"…I think I'll just use them interchangeably then."

"Alright," he chuckled.

"So," she began, "want to tell me the full story from the beginning now?"

"I won't be telling you _everything_ \- only the bits and pieces that you dreamed about just to clear up any mistaken impressions you may have gotten about some of our friends because of your nightmares."

"Why won't you tell me everything? I already know this much; you might as well go all the way."

"You don't understand," he replied with a sigh. "The reason I kept my identity and the truth hidden from you all these years was because none of us knew what would happen to you. Humans who leave the Spirit Realm have their memories sealed as a means to keep spirits and humans apart from each other. You were never even supposed to enter our world. As such, forcefully making you remember what happened may bring harm to you."

Chihiro raised an eyebrow. "So... you opted to just stay in this world... why?"

A smirk played on his lips. "Well, for one thing, I don't really have other places to go in the Spirit World, since I lost my river. But for the most part," he said, looking her in the eye, "it was because I wanted to stay with you."

Heat gathered in her cheeks and she looked away. "That... That wasn't a confession, right?" she laughed awkwardly, hoping her joke would cover up her embarrassment.

"No... unless you want it to be," he teased, earning a glare from her.

"You wish," Chihiro harrumphed, folding her arms across her chest. "I already said I'm going to marry a rich guy in the future."

"Yeah, sure, keep dreaming," Takashi replied with a roll of his eyes.

"Okay, but in all seriousness," he started again after clearing his throat, "I will try to answer your questions as much as I can, but please promise me one thing: don't try too hard to recall anything; if your memories come back, then they will. I'm still concerned about what may happen to you if we're not careful here."

"Fine, I won't."

"Okay then, I suppose I'll have to start with introductions. My full name is Nigihayami Kohaku Nushi, and I was the guardian of the former Kohaku River. You were right about that incident when you almost drowned in there; it wasn't the currents that washed you back ashore… It was me."

* * *

Chihiro sank back in her chair, trying to take it all in. Absently, she gazed out the window and noticed that the sun was already setting. They had taken much longer than expected.

So her dreams really had been bits and pieces of her memories, although a lot of them had been twisted so they became nightmares. There was Lin, the grumpy brunette and Kamaji, the old spider man whom she knew as her grandfather, two witches who weren't actually all that evil and a black, ghost-like creature that had no intention of eating her, although it had tried to in the past when it lost control. She still had no recollection of her parents having been turned into pigs though—it would be an interesting story to tell them sometime.

"Were you planning not to ever tell me about this if the whole case with Dr. Ko didn't happen?" she asked.

"Yes," he answered truthfully. "Aside from your safety, you wouldn't know who I was, let alone all that had happened between us. I didn't want to impose my memories on you, because that would have scared you and you'd think I was crazy. So I came and looked for you. I joined the middle school you were attending at that time and met you for the 'first time' again. Come to think of it, that would have been the third one," he smiled. "There really wasn't a need to tell you about this; I just wanted to be friends with you again."

"Then… what about our other friends back in the Spirit Realm? Do they remember me?"

"Of course they do. Lin won't shut up about you, or the threats of giving me a piece of her mind if I fail to bring you back. Everyone misses you very much."

"Then, why didn't they just come over to the human world?"

"Coming here isn't like taking a vacation," he answered, "it requires quite a lot of spiritual energy to just cross the Gate, let alone stay here for long periods of time."

Chihiro rolled her eyes teasingly. "So you're saying that you're strong?"

A smug grin appeared on his face. "That would be an understatement. I realize staying here is quite good for training spiritual energy and power."

Chihiro pondered over this for a moment. "Hm, then wouldn't that mean Dr. Ko is pretty strong himself too? You mentioned something about him being a spirit too."

"Indeed, he is. I'm still not sure what his motives were in getting closer to you and posing as me, but whatever it is, he is not a spirit to be trusted. He appears to be a psychic, which means he can manipulate minds, but the last I've heard, psychic spirits are only able to manipulate other spirits' minds to a limited extent, never on humans. I'll have to consult Zeniba further on this."

"Can I go with you?" she asked immediately.

He frowned. "I don't think that's such a good idea… I don't know what would happen if you return to the Spirit realm, or worse, what would happen if you leave again. I fear you may lose your memories once more."

"But didn't I just cross the 'Gate' that you mentioned? I went through the tunnel and nothing happened."

"That tunnel isn't the Gate. It's the meadow we were standing on earlier."

"Oh, then I guess there's no way around it." Chihiro slumped back in her seat dejectedly. She felt rather guilty for not remembering her friends on the other side, and had been anticipating to go back and meet them again after Haku told her about the bonds they had shared before.

"Don't look so down, please. Zeniba might know of a way around this, but that means I'll have to leave you and go down to the Spirit Realm for a while, and I'm not about to leave you vulnerable to that Dr. Ko guy again."

Chihiro furrowed her eyebrows in response. "Didn't you fight him earlier? I thought you beat him or something like that."

"It was merely a deterrence to allow us some time to escape. I couldn't fight, not with you so close by. He could well have taken you as a hostage at that point in time. Right now, he's probably roaming freely and given that we know too little about him, it's not safe for me to leave you here alone. He may be looking for another chance to attack you."

"So in short, I can't go back to the Spirit Realm, at least not for a while, and you're going to be my personal bodyguard 24/7?"

"Smart girl," he smiled. "I'll be moving into your apartment for the time being."

"What? Why can't we go to yours?"

"Because I don't have an apartment here; I told you it takes a lot of energy to stay here at length. After sending you home I go back to my river in the Spirit Realm."

She paused. "Your river, as in the Kohaku River?"

"No, the Kohaku River is long gone… This new river was entrusted to me by an old friend when he passed away two years ago at the ripe old age of seven thousand years."

"S-Seven thousand years?" Chihiro exclaimed in disbelief. "How old are _you_?"

"Only about a thousand years old. I think I'm close to my next jubilee too."

" _A thousand years?_ Oh my word- I _knew_ it, I knew you were secretly an old man! What's a jubilee anyway?"

"A jubilee is basically our version of a birthday, except it only occurs every century."

"I can't believe this, my best friend is hundreds of times older than me! And you look so young! I can't believe this!" He probably took better care of his skin than the vainest person in their class.

"I'm not vain," he rebutted, frowning at her. She smiled sheepishly; she must have spoken her thoughts out loud by mistake. "It's just that our human forms age much slower than human bodies, considering our extensive life span."

"I guess that makes sense. It must be nice to be able to live for such a long time."

Haku twisted his lips wryly at that. "It does have its perks, but living for a long time sometimes also means outliving a loved one or a good friend, and that means living with the pain of that loss for the rest of your life."

A moment of silence passed between them. Chihiro guessed he was probably referring to other close friends of his and possibly her, too.

"Anyway, it's late. We should be going back now," the man said, standing up. "Let's go."

That night, Chihiro lay wide-awake on her futon, her mind filled with thoughts about the Spirit World. Every now and then, she would steal sideways glances at Takashi who was sleeping in the futon next to hers. It was strange how they could never seem to be apart from each other for long—after nearly drowning in his river, who'd have thought she'd be part of the unlikely human family to wander into the Spirit Realm and meet him there? And then almost immediately after he had come to look for her, and somehow he managed to find her again.

A coy smile graced her lips. It sounded just like a crazy love story, except for the fact that their relationship was nothing like that.

Many friends of hers had asked her too many times if she was dating Takashi, or if she ever would. Her answer was always the same: no.

Chihiro didn't know why either; Takashi was a great guy, he was funny, caring, smart, and the best friend she could ever ask for. He was a great catch himself, even if he didn't know it sometimes—he never noticed the horde of girls around him back in high school.

But for some reason, Chihiro couldn't find it in her to love another man like that. It was as if someone else had stolen her heart a long time ago, so that she couldn't love another the same way again, as strange as it sounded. She didn't believe in love at first sight or anything magical of the sort, but there was something peculiar about how her heart seemed to be blindfolded so she couldn't see any other man in a romantic way.

The sudden contact of a hand on her arm made her jump in surprise.

"Can't sleep?" Takashi asked.

She relaxed and plopped her head back down on the pillow. "Just thinking for a little bit," she replied with a sigh.

"Same here."

"What are you thinking about?"

"About the many things that happened in the bathhouse when you last visited."

"Was it a lot of fun?"

He smiled. "Very. You were quite scatterbrained as a child—which you still are."

"Hey."

"But, you were stronger and braver than any other girl your age would have been, that's why I..."

"That's why you what?" she asked.

"Nothing," he quickly replied. "Anyway, you should go to sleep, it's late. Goodnight, Chihiro. Sweet dreams."

"Sweet dreams to you too."

* * *

 _She was lost. Hopelessly lost._

" _Mommy!" the ten-year-old screamed, her head whipping back and forth wildly in all directions, trying to catch a glimpse of her parents._

 _Those pigs weren't her parents. She was sure of it. Someone or something must have taken them._

 _But they were nowhere in sight. The only things that she saw were ghosts. Their bodies were translucent, and they were floating around, several of them staring at her. She was petrified. What if they decided that they wanted to eat her? Or worse, kill her?_

 _She ran and ran, her lungs burning with the effort. She may as well go back to where they had come from; maybe her parents were already on the other side of the tunnel. So she retraced her steps and sprinted down the steps, but to her horror, there was only water in place of the meadow that she had just crossed._

" _Water?" she gasped, quickly stepping out. The dismay at her wet socks vaguely registered in her mind when she turned around and came face to face with a boy. He had dark green, shoulder-length hair, dressed in a hakama. He stared at her with cold green eyes. "You shouldn't be here. Get out of here now!"_

 _The girl was too confused to understand what he was saying, but before she could ask him further questions, suddenly a flurry of white scales surrounded him, and he seemed to grow bigger and longer in size._

 _And the next moment, a fearsome dragon was standing before her, a deep growl settling at the back of its throat as it glared at her._

 _Her mouth opened in a silent scream, and she tried to move, but her legs were rooted to the ground somehow. She looked down to see what was going on, and then she realized that she was disappearing._

 _Her legs, her hands, her clothes, everything—she was fading away._

" _No!" she cried, helpless tears forming in her eyes as the dragon let out a mighty roar. She squatted down and pressed her small hands to her ears, hoping to muffle the sound out and to wake up from this nightmare soon._

 _Slowly but surely, it seemed to work. The sounds of roaring gradually drowned out and when quietness surrounded her again, she opened her eyes and found herself in her apartment. She was an adult again, and she sighed in relief. That had just been a nightmare._

 _The doorbell rang then, and she opened it to find Takashi standing there with a somber look on his face. "Takashi," she smiled. "What are you doing here?"_

 _She was expecting him to reply with his usual grin, but instead, a sinister smile crept up his face. "I'm not Takashi."_

 _She frowned. "Yes, you are. You're standing right here."_

" _The name's Haku. Nigihayami Kohaku Nushi. Remember me?"_

 _She stepped back, feeling wary all of a sudden. "No, I don't."_

" _Well, that's unfortunate," he smirked, grinning to reveal sharp fangs in his mouth. "You won't ever forget now, because you'll never get out of this eternal nightmare."_

 _And then, the ground began to shake. The woman stared in horror as a familiar flurry of white scales began to surround the man, and his figure slowly morphed into a dragon's body that was much bigger than the one she had encountered before. The walls of her apartment were cracking, and rubble was falling from the ceiling as the dragon stood, towering over her._

 _And just like the ten-year-old, the woman squatted down and covered her ears as the dragon let out a deafening roar._

" _Go away! This is just a nightmare!"_

" _Indeed, this is a nightmare, dear Chihiro. Except, you'll never escape from it. Not now, not ever…"_

"Chihiro, wake up! Chihiro!"

The woman jerked up in cold sweat and found Haku's face a couple of inches away from hers. The skin on his forehead was crinkled with worry, and his hands were gripping both sides of her arms tightly. "Are your nightmares back?"

His sinister face surfaced in her mind again and immediately she shrunk back, pushing his hands away from her and hastily putting some distance in between them. "I-I'm fine," she stammered, looking away and fisting her hands up to keep them from shaking.

' _That was just a nightmare,'_ she chanted in her head, hoping it would help to calm her nerves. Haku would never do anything like that to hurt her. He wouldn't.

"Chihiro, what's wrong?" He moved towards her again with his hand outstretched towards her, but she instinctively moved backwards again. "Don't touch me. Just leave me alone."

"You… had a nightmare of me, didn't you?" he asked quietly. Chihiro didn't even have to look to tell that he was hurt. A pang of guilt hit her so hard it was suddenly difficult to breathe.

"I'm would never hurt you, Chihiro. You know that."

"I… I know…" But it had seemed so real; his voice, his face, his touch, _everything_ had seemed so real.

"It was just a nightmare. That wasn't real. _This_ is the real ." The forcefulness in his tone made her slowly raise her head to look at him.

It was a big mistake. Her heart felt like it was being stabbed by a million knives just by a single glance at the betrayed look on his face.

"You're shaken by the nightmare, I get that. But please, do not doubt me." He was almost pleading now. "We've been best friends for the past decade, and even if your nightmares say something else, you know how much I care for you."

Chihiro couldn't hold back the whimper that was rising in her throat. Hurriedly, she shifted closer to him, threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly. "I'm sorry," she said burying her face into his neck. "I'm really sorry, Haku. It's just that everything had seemed so real, I… I didn't know what to do…"

The man pulled her close to him, sighing. "I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have lost my temper like that. It was completely normal for you to react that way after experiencing that terrible nightmare."

She shook her head vigorously. "No, it's not okay. I never should have doubted you even for a second. I'm really sorry."

"Mm… It's a mutual apology, and mutual forgiveness, then?"

"Yeah," she smiled, pulling away. "I promise I won't doubt you again."

He returned the grin as he gently wiped away a stray tear on her cheek. "And I promise that I'll never let anyone hurt you."

"Aww," she chortled gleefully.

"Don't give me that," he rolled his eyes. "It's too early on a Sunday morning to deal with your little antics."

"You love it and you know it," she shot back. "So, what's the plan for today? I need to catch up on my notes, since I haven't really been paying much attention in lectures."

"Then I'll study with you. I've got a couple of assignments to work on as well."

"You don't actually have to study, do you? Given that you're a spirit."

"Not really, but it's rather interesting to learn what you're studying."

"Can't argue with that. Psychology is fun."

"And by the way, I'll be keeping an eye on you 24/7, just to make sure Dr. Ko doesn't come back and attempt to harm you while I'm not around."

Chihiro frowned. "No. No, no, no. I refuse to play 'bodyguard' with you here. You can't be gate crashing all my plans with my other girl friends, or following me everywhere. People will get the wrong idea about us!"

"I could just trail behind. No one would notice me, and I won't be interrupting your girl-to-girl bonding time. You don't even have much of those anyway. Most of the time it's hanging with me. Besides, it's not as if we haven't gotten misunderstood by people before. I'm kind of used to it by now, aren't you?" Haku replied with a smug grin.

"Even so-"

"Okay, then it's decided. I'll be your 'bodyguard' for the time being, until Dr. Ko makes his next move," the man declared. "Any questions?"

Chihiro made a loud noise in an exaggerated groan as she plopped back down onto her futon. "Just… no following me into the toilet," she mumbled under her breath in resignation.

* * *

A/N: Hi guys, apologies for the delay. I was having a little block on what to do for this chapter, especially for the nightmare part. But yay it's done! And I figured out the general idea of the rest of the story so hurray too haha.

Okay, so here's some bad news: I just got my mid-year exam results back this week and in short, I didn't do very well and now my parents are going on lockdown on me; it's harder to find time to write now—I have to do it in secret omg. And I do need to place more emphasis on my studies now, so I'll likely be devoting less time to writing.

But, I'll still do my best to update within 2 weeks of the previous update. I hate having to make readers wait because I know how it feels too, so yupp, no need to worry about me going on a hiatus on you guys haha. I'm going to finish this story so I can continue other works that I have in my computer ;)

Okay, long A/N, sorry about that. Anyways, hope you enjoyed the interaction at the start. I had so much fun writing that. Thanks for the reviews for the previous chapter too; it was so much fun reading them. You guys are hilarious hehe.

See you soon! (: Love you guys!

P.S. I'll come back and edit this chapter later if need be; I'm kind of in a rush to get out of the house haha.


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